Indonesia Needs 7 Trln Rupiah to Restore Forests, Paper Says
07/27/00
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Title:  Indonesia Needs 7 Trln Rupiah to Restore Forests, Paper Says
Source:  © Copyright 2000 Bloomberg News.
Date:  July 27, 2000

Jakarta -- Nurmahmudi Ismail, Indonesia's minister of forestry and plantations, said the country needs 7 trillion rupiah ($780 million) to restore 27 million hectares of damaged forestland, the Media Indonesia newspaper reported. Indonesia allocates only 1 trillion rupiah a year to reforestation and will ask other countries to help, he said. Indonesia's state forest company, PT Inhutani V, has been implicated in the misuse of 644 billion rupiah in reforestation funds, the paper reported.

Indonesia plans to shift logging concessions to state companies from private loggers to prevent clear cutting of forests and smuggling of logs. Error: Unable to read footer file.