POLICY
JAKARTA (FORESTHINTS.NEWS) - The Indonesian Environment and Forestry Ministry has firmly corrected a unilateral claim made in a recently-posted article on the IUCN blog written by Erik Meijaard and Serge Wich titled "Is this our chance to save the world's rarest great ape?" (Jul 20).
The ministry cited the following claim from the article as one-sided and factually incorrect: "The fact that the Ministry’s own call to halt the dam is not heeded indicates that more powerful forces in the government are overruling the country’s environmental law."
"This unilateral claim constitutes defamation," the Ministry's Nature Resources and Ecosystem Conservation Director General Wiratno told FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Jul 22).
Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya, he explained, has provided clear technical and bold policy guidance on the hydropower project underway in a small part of North Sumatra's Batang Toru Ecosystem.
"Everything must be directed at ensuring that the Tapanuli orangutans do not go extinct and to guarantee that sufficient habitat is available for their population growth. All efforts must be made and resources used, in parallel with the hydropower development project, to achieve these two things," Wiratno stressed.
“It’s very clear that our minister has never taken the position of calling for a halt to the Batang Toru hydropower project,” he added.
In late April this year, as reported by FORESTHINTS.NEWS, Minister Nurbaya explained that the Tapanuli orangutan's habitat was significantly covered in the map of the permanent moratorium on primary forests and peatlands. The photos of the orangutans accompanying this prior story are redisplayed below.
Traceable efforts
The efforts undertaken by Minister Nurbaya to prevent the extinction of the Tapanuli orangutans, Director General Wiratno continued, can be clearly traced, especially through official letters from the ministry to the project developer PT NSHE.
"The key essence of the ministry’s efforts is how to ensure that there is no extinction of the Tapanuli orangutans. It's not about stopping the hydropower project as claimed by the two international experts," he explained.
“What our minister is actually calling for is to avoid the extinction of the Tapanuli orangutans, and the facts show that we are not heading towards this. There is ample habitat available for the orangutans to breed and we will continue to ensure this is the case by controlling the situation in a strict and measured manner,” he emphasized.
Shared concern
Director General Wiratno pointed out that it is not only an international concern, but also the ministry’s core priority to make sure the Tapanuli orangutans are not on a pathway to extinction.
“All of us need to be on the front lines to prevent the extinction of the Tapanuli orangutans, including the hydropower project developer,” he urged.
Wiratno also expressed his appreciation for the innovative approaches delivered by relevant stakeholders and experts aimed not only at preventing the extinction of the Tapanuli orangutans, but also ensuring their population growth, such as the landscape and watershed management-based approaches.
“These are the kinds of things required by the ministry. There is no option to halt the Batang Toru hydropower project development from our side,” Director General Wiratno reiterated.
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POLICY
JAKARTA (FORESTHINTS.NEWS) - The Indonesian Environment and Forestry Ministry has firmly corrected a unilateral claim made in a recently-posted article on the IUCN blog written by Erik Meijaard and Serge Wich titled "Is this our chance to save the world's rarest great ape?" (Jul 20).
The ministry cited the following claim from the article as one-sided and factually incorrect: "The fact that the Ministry’s own call to halt the dam is not heeded indicates that more powerful forces in the government are overruling the country’s environmental law."
"This unilateral claim constitutes defamation," the Ministry's Nature Resources and Ecosystem Conservation Director General Wiratno told FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Jul 22).
Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya, he explained, has provided clear technical and bold policy guidance on the hydropower project underway in a small part of North Sumatra's Batang Toru Ecosystem.
"Everything must be directed at ensuring that the Tapanuli orangutans do not go extinct and to guarantee that sufficient habitat is available for their population growth. All efforts must be made and resources used, in parallel with the hydropower development project, to achieve these two things," Wiratno stressed.
“It’s very clear that our minister has never taken the position of calling for a halt to the Batang Toru hydropower project,” he added.
In late April this year, as reported by FORESTHINTS.NEWS, Minister Nurbaya explained that the Tapanuli orangutan's habitat was significantly covered in the map of the permanent moratorium on primary forests and peatlands. The photos of the orangutans accompanying this prior story are redisplayed below.
Traceable efforts
The efforts undertaken by Minister Nurbaya to prevent the extinction of the Tapanuli orangutans, Director General Wiratno continued, can be clearly traced, especially through official letters from the ministry to the project developer PT NSHE.
"The key essence of the ministry’s efforts is how to ensure that there is no extinction of the Tapanuli orangutans. It's not about stopping the hydropower project as claimed by the two international experts," he explained.
“What our minister is actually calling for is to avoid the extinction of the Tapanuli orangutans, and the facts show that we are not heading towards this. There is ample habitat available for the orangutans to breed and we will continue to ensure this is the case by controlling the situation in a strict and measured manner,” he emphasized.
Shared concern
Director General Wiratno pointed out that it is not only an international concern, but also the ministry’s core priority to make sure the Tapanuli orangutans are not on a pathway to extinction.
“All of us need to be on the front lines to prevent the extinction of the Tapanuli orangutans, including the hydropower project developer,” he urged.
Wiratno also expressed his appreciation for the innovative approaches delivered by relevant stakeholders and experts aimed not only at preventing the extinction of the Tapanuli orangutans, but also ensuring their population growth, such as the landscape and watershed management-based approaches.
“These are the kinds of things required by the ministry. There is no option to halt the Batang Toru hydropower project development from our side,” Director General Wiratno reiterated.
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