Regulation on use of protected forests to be issued February

The Forestry Ministry hopes that the governmental regulation (PP) on the use of protected forests could be issued in February next year.

Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the draft regulation was expected to be completed before Jan. 15, so that it could be submitted to the State Secretary for a final approval at the end of the month.

?We hope the new regulation could be issued in February,? he said, adding that his office had received at least 1,500 applications from companies in different business sectors asking for permits to use protected forest areas.

Protected forests can be used for building infrastructure or converted into plantation or mining areas as long as companies which use the protected forests could replace them with forest areas in other places, he said. ?The replacement should at least twice the size of protected areas they use,? he added.

The replacement lands should be areas passed by rivers and be located on the same island or province, he said.

Aside from land replacement, the PP also provide rules regarding the Environmental Impact Analysis (Amdal) (*)