ACEH TO BUILD WILDLIFE CONSERVATION CENTER

Banda Aceh, Jan 30 (ANTARA) - Aceh province has a plan to build Jantho One Stop Conservation Landscape in Aceh Besar district as the center for environmentally related education, wildlife management, orangutan rehabilitation, and eco-tourism.

"We fully support the development of such an integrated conservation center, and therefore the idea is being discussed by Aceh Besar district authorities and related institutions," district head Bukhari Daud said here on Saturday.

He said the idea was still being discussed by Aceh Besar district administration with, Leuser Ecosystem Area Management Board (BPKEL), Forest Scientific College (STIK), and International Flora and Fauna (FFI) for Aceh program.

With the existence of the conservation center, it is expected that orangutans in Aceh forest which are to be rehabilitated in Jambi can be postponed and instead, being released in Jantho with other endangered animals.

Earlier, orangutans and other wildlife such as tigers were quarantined or rehabilitated at the wildlife conservation center in Jambi and Medan in North Sumatra.

More than 20 orangutans from Aceh are currently quarantined in North Sumatra following the absence of wildlife conservation center in Aceh.

Orangutans are protected mammals under the Law No.5/1990 on Biological and Natural Resources Conservation and its ecosystem, because they are classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as critically endangered animals.

IUCN helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges.

It supports scientific research, manages field projects all over the world and brings governments, non-government organizations, United Nations agencies, companies and local communities together to develop and implement policy, laws and best practice.

IUCN is the world's oldest and largest global environmental network - a democratic membership union with more than 1,000 government and NGO member organizations, and almost 11,000 volunteer scientists in more than 160 countries.

Orangutan population in Sumatra since 2004 has dramatically dropped from 7,500 to 6,600 in number, and therefore, FFI spokesman Wahdi Azmi said the familiarization and feasibility study for the development of conservation center in Aceh had been made.

(O001/A/HAJM/14:00/A/O001)


(T.SYS/A/O001/A/O001) 30-01-2010 14:01:20