Budget allocations for forest rehabilitation were so small that non- state budget funds were needed to finance forest conservation efforts, Director General of Natural Forest Conservation at the Forestry Ministry Darori said here on Tuesday.
"If we only rely on state budget funds we will receive small amount of budget allocations. The funds are not enough to rehabilitate forests," he said.
If approved, the Conservation Foundation would accommodate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds from private companies intending to hand part of CSR to rehabilitate forests, he said.
"To date, there are two companies in Indonesia involved in the management of CSR which reaches almost 20 trillion. Meanwhile, the amount of state budget funds to rehabilitate forests is very small. Private companies can help rehabilitate forests," he said.
He said the proposal for the formation of conservation foundation was discussed in Yogyakarta some time ago with Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB).
To organize the foundation, he said the foundation would have a board of patrons who would be chosen from people who paid serious attention to forest conservation efforts.
"I propose that the foundation be called Indonesian conservation foundation with the board of patrons chosen from the people who pay serious attention to forest conservation, such as Jusuf Kalla, Jaya Suprana and Emil Salim. There are about 10-15 people who are qualified to become members of the board of patron," he said. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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