-----Original Message----- From: Grahame Applegate Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2002 7:54 AM To: * Research Division (All) Subject: FW: Signing of an new agreement for cooperation between Ministry of F forestry and the European Commission on Forest Fire Management
Dear Colleagues, This may be of interest to you. Regards, Grahame Jakarta, 20 December 2001 Ref: PI17-01 PRESS RELEASE EUROPEAN UNION The Minister of Forestry Dr. M. Prakosa signed today an agreement between the European Commission on behalf of the European Union (EU) and the Ministry of Forestry in the field of Forest Fire Management. The agreement entails the implementation of a Technical Assistance project, the South Sumatra Forest Fire Management Project. This project is worth 8.5 million EURO (equivalent to more than 77 billion Rupiah) of which the Commission contributes 8 million EURO in the form of a Grant. Out of this grant more than 3 million EURO is available for training of stakeholders, fire-fighting and other necessary equipment and environmental education. The project will work closely with the Government of the Province of South Sumatra, in particular the Provincial Forestry Service (Dinas Kehutanan) in Palembang as well as the relevant Government services in the districts, NGOs and the private sector. All stakeholders expressed their commitment to work with the new project during a recently held workshop in Palembang titled, "Land and Forest Fire Management in South Sumatra; our shared responsibility" which was held in October this year. The agreement to work together in the Forest Fire Management is based on the successful conclusion of the Commission's earlier co-operation with the Ministry in the Forest Fire Prevention and Control Project. It is targeted at one of the major underlying causes of uncontrolled fires, i.e. insecure land rights and uncertain access to resources for people. The project will pursue a process approach at the local level, developed on the basis of the relevant experiences gained on previous EC initiatives and other donor programmes in Indonesia. It will focus on the implementation of procedures based on participation of all stakeholders in the problem analysis, training, fire-monitoring/ -management and related policy decisions. Since 1992 the European Commission already has implemented a substantial development co-operation programme with the Government of Indonesia in the forestry sector. Currently, the EC-Indonesia Forest Programme (ECIFP) consists of five projects - covering conservation, sustainable forest management and general sector support - and a liaison office dealing with policy aspects. The total value of the programme is around 120 million EURO of which the EC grant assistance amounts to 100 million EURO. Contact: Marcel de Brune, Programme Officer, tel (62 21) 570 6076 (ext. 334) Delegation of the European Commission Wisma Dharmala Sakti - floor 16 Jl. Jend. Sudirman 32 JAKARTA
