Java has 762 Landslide-Prone Spots: Java, Indonesia

By Barrie | December 30th, 2006 | No Comments

Forestry Minister MS Kaban said that Java had 762 spots which are prone to landslides and need to be watched out during the rainy season according to a report in the Antara News.

“Rainfalls in the January-February 2007 period will be so high that landslides and floods will likely occur in the prone areas,” the minister said during the launching of National Land and Forest Rehabilitation Action in Empol Sekotong village, West Lombok district, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) province, on Thursday.

He said that the disaster-prone areas were located in 5,075 villages in 69 districts.

On the occasion, the minister also revealed that there were now a total of 458 river basin areas (DAS) across the country which needed to be handled based on a priority scale. The first priority would be given to 60 DAS, the second priority to 222 DAS and the third priority to 176 DAS.

Referring to the land and forest rehabilitation, the minister said that the government had planned to rehabilitate three million hectares of forests in the 2003-2007 period, and five million hectares up to 2009.

In the meantime, Vice President Jusuf Kalla in his address said that until now at least 2.5 million hectares of forest were cut down every year, both legally and illegally.

He said that the maximum area of forest that could be cut down per annum was only one million hectares.

“If that condition is left unheeded, we will inherit a condition like that in Africa which has a lot of denuded land,” the vice president said.

During his stay in NTB, Jusuf Kalla is accompanied by Deputy Chairman of the People`s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Aksa Mahmud, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono, Research and Technology Minister Kusmayanto Kadiman, Environmental Affairs Minister Rachmad Witoelar, Golkar Party Secretary General Sumarsono, and legislators Enggartiasto Lukito and Rully Chairul Azwar.

Source: Antara News