Indonesian Environment Ministry reject opening National Park for geothermal project
Ulu Masen forest, Aceh, Indonesia (source: flickr/DFID, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
13 Sep 2016
Indonesia's Ministry for the Environment has denied a proposal by provincial government for Aceh to rezone parts of a national park, which would have allowed geothermal development to move ahead.
With insufficient electricity available to meet demand, the province of Aceh in Indonesia is trying to see development of energy projects moving ahead. Last month, the governor of the province asked the Indonesian government to rezone part of a national park for geothermal development.
The country’s Ministry for the Environment has now denied the Aceh provincial government’s proposal to rezone part of Mount Leuser National Park for geothermal development, reacting to opposition from conservationists who argued the project would threaten key Orang Utan and Rhino populations.
The ministry’s director for protected areas told local news that the ministry had rejected a letter from Aceh Governor Zaini Abdullah asking that a section of the park’s “core zone” be changed to a “utilization zone” so that a Turkish company, Hitay Holdings, could develop geothermal there.
“The minister received the letter but from socialization and [public] consultation, the result was disagreement with the rezoning, so that’s that. [The plan] stops there,” Tachrir Fathoni told Mongabay last week on the sidelines of the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Honolulu.
The project would have covered 50-100 hectares of land, but Abdullah had asked for the rezoning of nearly 8,000 hectares in the Kappi Plateau, where hundreds of critically endangered Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatrensis) live.
The House of Representatives would have also had to sign off on any proposal to rezone a national park, Fathoni added.
Source: Mongabay
