VZCZCXRO4660
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #1832/01 1870806
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 060806Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5316
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0574
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 4144
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0873
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 4092
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 001832 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
AIDAC 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/MTS AND EB/IFD/ODF 
DEPT FOR OES/IET and OES/ETC 
TREASURY FOR TFCA - BERG 
USAID FOR ANE/TS AND EGAT/NRM 
 
E.O. 12598: N/A 
TAGS: SENV EAID ECON TBIO ID
SUBJECT: INDONESIA - FORESTRY MINISTER WELCOMES ORANGUTAN 
CONSERVATION PROGRAMS AND TFCA 
 
REF: A) JAKARTA 1660, Orangutan Conservation; 
B) JAKARTA 1672, West Kalimantan Dwindling Forests; 
C) JAKARTA 1745, Aceh Forest Threatened 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  The Minister of Forestry, Mr. Kaban, stressed to 
DCM in a July 3 meeting that conservation of orangutans and their 
forest habitat remains an urgent need.  The Minister welcomed the $8 
million USAID Orangutan Conservation Services Program and emphasized 
the importance of communities benefiting from forest conservation 
efforts.  DCM urged eastward expansion of Tanjung Puting National 
Park in Central Kalimantan Province.  DCM explained the basics of 
the U.S. debt-for-nature swap under the Tropical Forest Conservation 
Act, which the Minister welcomed as "good news."  On the MOU to 
Combat Illegal Logging and Associated Trade, the Minister emphasized 
the importance of international collaboration to assist Indonesia in 
addressing transnational crime.  The annual haze has already begun 
in Sumatra, and the Minister admitted its ongoing problems fighting 
the fires manually.  End Summary. 
 
Orangutan Habitat 
Conservation: Urgent Needs 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) In a July 3 meeting, the Forestry Minister and DCM agreed 
that conservation of orangutan habitat is an urgent need.  We 
explained the $8 million Orangutan Conservation Services Program 
(OCSP) works in some of the last remaining areas with significant 
orangutan populations in the wild, in Kalimantan and Sumatra.  The 
program aims to reduce key threats to orangutan habitat by promoting 
sustainable forest management, law enforcement, sustainable 
financing and developing stronger constituencies at the national 
level. The Minister of Forestry requested assistance to update the 
orangutan census (the last one is from 2004).  Another request by 
the Ministry of Forestry (MOF) is to support its orangutan 
rehabilitation centers, two in Kalimantan, and four in Sumatra.  MOF 
officials noted that they have 800 refugee orangutan in these six 
centers, many victims of land clearing for palm oil plantations or 
of forest fires.  A key constraint is lack of forest to reintroduce 
captive orangutans, given continually shrinking habitats.  Another 
priority is to facilitate protection of habitat by engaging local 
communities to develop sustainable patrols in the areas. 
 
Tanjung Puting National Park 
----------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan is home 
to several thousand orangutan and location of the 
internationally-recognized Camp Leakey research center.  Embassy 
thanked the Ministry of Forestry for rejecting plans for palm oil 
plantations on the boundary of the park and asked whether it would 
be possible to expand the park on the east side, where some primary 
forest still exists.  The Minister explained that a one-kilometer 
buffer zone exists around the Park, and other land allocations are 
governed by the official land use plan.  The MOF will, however, 
examine options for any land area not privately owned and not yet 
converted. 
 
Tropical Forest Conservation Act 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) We explained that Indonesia was eligible for a 
"debt-for-nature" swap under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act. 
Deputy Minister Mahendra Siregar, at the Coordinating Ministry for 
the Economy, had told us that his Ministry, in cooperation with the 
Ministry of Finance, would negotiate with U.S. Treasury the debt 
swap portion, while the Ministry of Forestry would have the lead on 
the actual conservation programs.  Minister Kaban said the program 
was "good news" and hoped the mechanism was not too complicated.  We 
explained that it would involve setting up a board with the 
participation of his Ministry and could take up to a year to 
finalize.  The Minister recommended the program take into 
consideration livelihoods of local people who can benefit from 
forest conservation and "not just trees."  We agreed that the 
existing USAID programs are also targeted at improving livelihoods, 
with a measurable impact in the number of people who are now farming 
outside rather than inside the national parks.  The Minister also 
raised the question whether a portion of the TFCA funds could be 
 
JAKARTA 00001832  002 OF 002 
 
 
planned for some type of sustainable forestry grant fund, since this 
would leverage a longer-term benefit that would lead to greater 
impact in forest conservation. 
 
Illegal Logging 
--------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Embassy raised the MOU to Combat Illegal Logging and 
Associated Trade, noting planning visits by with the U.S. Forest 
Service and U.S. Department of Justice ICITAP program to implement 
the MOU.  The Minister welcomed the visits and said that he has 
already held several meetings on the MOU and the illegal logging 
issue in general.  "We hope the timber industry players are seeing 
the benefit of going the legal route," he said.  The aim of 
activities under the MOU is to strengthen legal business while 
curtailing the activity of illegal loggers through a variety of 
measures including better enforcement.  The Minister welcomed the 
training from the U.S. for the Indonesian judiciary and police under 
the ASEAN-Wildlife Enforcement Network program. 
 
Annual Haze Has Started 
----------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) The annual dry season problem of heavy haze pollution from 
land clearing has already begun in Sumatra.  The Minister 
acknowledged the ongoing problems combating the fires.  "There are 
millions of hectares of peatland vulnerable to fire each year, but 
we are relying on manual means to put them out.  To manage fire 
prone areas this vast requires two squadrons of sky crane type 
helicopters covering eight provinces."  The MOF is currently renting 
helicopters.  The Minister was impressed on a recent trip to South 
Korea with the 48 sky cranes, each with a capacity of 10,000 liters 
of water, to combat fires in 6 million hectares of forest.  "Climate 
change could exacerbate the dry season periods, and can leave areas 
prone to fire beyond the usual dry season" he added.  He asked 
whether the U.S. could help with leasing or grants of such 
helicopters, noting that sky cranes are U.S. technology.  "We can't 
only rely on our neighbors for help.  We need our own facilities." 
 
 
HUME