Indonesia Proposes Belitung and Toba as UNESCO Global Geoparks

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Government proposes two national geoparks; Belitung and Toba, to be enlisted as UNESCO Global Geoparks. This was conveyed during the Asia Pacific Geoparks Networks (APGN) 2019 which is held in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, on August 30 to September 6.

"We proposed two national geoparks; Belitung and Toba, at the APGN meeting in Lombok," said the official of Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs who also serves as Indonesia National Geopark Committee Secretary, Anton Setyo Nugroho, in Mataram, Thursday, August 22.

He said that the opportunity for the two national geoparks to be listed as global geoparks is quite high. However, the decision will be announced at the UNESCO Global Geopark Network (UGGN) summit in Paris in April 2020.

Indonesia currently has four global geoparks, namely Geopark Batur in Bali, Geopark Rinjani in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), Geopark Sewu in Yogyakarta Geopark Ciletuh in Sukabumi, West Java, Nugroho said. In addition, Indonesia has 15 national geoparks including Belitung and Toba.

"We'll have six world geoparks if Belitung dan Toba made it to the list," he said.

Nugroho explained that region-wise, Indonesia has 110 potential zones that can be developed into geoparks, yet it will take times. But the number is far below China with its 39 geoparks with the status of UNESCO Global Geopark and its 220 national geoparks.

"But we can be proud of being the only country that issues Presidential Regulation (Perpres) on georpak development. Perpres number 9/2019 regulates the management of national geopark, the institutional, and budget," he said, hoping the Perpres can boost Indonesian regions to develop or proposing their region to become national or global geopark.

Nugroho said the APGN summit in Lombok, NTB, is organized once every two-year. The event is attended by experts of geology, earthquake, mitigation, and others from Asia-Pacific. 

ANTARA