The planned change of function is meant to intensify the management of the Meratus Geopark forest area, given the worsening tendency of environmental degradation.
Banjarmasin (ANTARA) - The Environment and Forestry (LHK) Ministry and South Kalimantan provincial government held a meeting on Monday to study a proposal for designating the Meratus Mountains as a national park.

Director General of Forestry Planology and Environmental Management at the ministry Hanif Faisol Nurrofiq said the plan to give national park status to the mountains is based on the fact that South Kalimantan is among the four Indonesian provinces without such a park.

"The planned change of function is meant to intensify the management of the Meratus Geopark forest area, given the worsening tendency of environmental degradation," he explained in Banjarbaru City, South Kalimantan.

Nurrofiq underlined that the Meratus Mountains protected forest area meets the requirements to be declared a national park.

"Since UNESCO has recognized the Meratus Geopark, this region is technically eligible for national park status," he said.

The director general then informed that a team from the ministry would initially study an assessment conducted earlier by the South Kalimantan government, which aimed to determine the exact area of the protected forest that will be designated as a national park.

The ministry's Director of Conservation Zone Planning Satyawan Pudyatmoko, on his part, said that declaring Meratus a national park would be the right decision, considering the area's unique biodiversity and natural ecosystem.

"Note that one of the criteria of a national park is uniqueness in terms of biotic and ecosystem. In fact, we can find communities that have been maintaining positive interactions with the Meratus Mountains area there," he added.

Pudyatmoko informed that the planned national park designation is aimed at preserving biodiversity, the natural ecosystem, and cultures in the mountains while empowering the locals' economy.

"We are optimistic about declaring the mountains as a national park this year," he added.

Related news: Mount Hapuk, the water source of Dayak Meratus people
Related news: S Kalimantan's Sultan Adam Forest housing over 100 rare orchids








Translator: Imam H, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2024