Sixty Percent of Berbak National Park Damaged
Monday, 16 April, 2012 | 14:33 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, JAMBI:Berbak National Park in Jambi is in dire condition with 60 percent of the 162,700-hectare forest damaged from more than a decade of illegal logging.

“If we don’t take firm action, the park will get worse. The police don’t do much and timber theft continues,” Arie Suriyanto, the East Jabung regency’s Villagers Communication Forum chief, said yesterday.

“We see reforestation efforts, but they haven’t met expectation because the efforts haven’t returned the condition of the national park,” he said.

Arie said that illegal logging in the area was very organized and the police and provincial government were involved.

SYAIPUL BAKHORI