TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG) has set a target to restore 400,000 hectares of peatland in 2017. Budi Wardana, Deputy for Planning and Cooperation of the BRG, said that the Agency will need Rp 1.44 trillion for the restoration effort while adding that only Rp912 billion are available.
To make up for the shortcoming, Budi has asked for help from non-governmental organizations based in the European Union, Norway, UK, Japan and South Korea. "We are looking for development partners," Budi said in a discussion held by tempo.co in Kuningan, Jakarta on Wednesday, November 30, 2016.
Next year, the BRG is aiming to map 820,000 hectares of land in peat hydrological area (KHG), manage 104 peat villages and set up 80 KHG zones, a number much higher compared to last year's nine KHG.
The BRG has only started restoring peatlands this year, setting a target of 600,000 hectares of degraded peatlands restoration, as well as mapping peatlands, recording 606,000 hectares of land in four KHGs and managing 104 peat villages.
Managing 104 peat villages will include restoring 800,000 hectares of peatlands over the next five year. "Our target [until 2020] is managing one thousand villages in seven provinces," Budi said. The provinces are Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan and Papua.
ALI HIDAYAT
