Protected Areas Used To Expand Indonesian Oil Palm Plantations

JAKARTA, May 12 Asia Pulse - The expansion of oil palm
plantations in the regency of Kapuas Hulu in Indonesia's West
Kalimantan has crossed the border into protected forests, the
semi official news agency Antara reported.

Expansion has entered the 200,000 hectare Heart Of Borneo,
which has been agreed to be preserved between three neighboring
countries Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, said Haryono, the
coordinator for forest Communication Issue of the World Wide
Fund for Nature in West Kalimantan.

Nine subsidiaries of the Sinar Mas Group are believed to be
involved in clearing 160,000 hectares of forests bordering the
Betung Karihun National Park, Haryono said.

Kapuas Hulu has 1.63 million hectares of protected forests
and National Parks.

By the end of 2007, West Kalimantan has 400,000 hectares of
planted oil palm plantations said.

(ANTARA)

source:news.yahoo.com