Governors from the three provinces made the assertion at a meeting held in Bali, adding that the global community needs to offer improved financial incentives and carbon trading schemes to ensure the conservation drive is a success.
The World Bank, which sponsored the Indonesian meeting, has stated that it has already set aside US$200m for pilot preservation projects in order to try and bring an end to illegal logging, which environmenal campaigners claim strips 2.1 million ha of forest from the country every year.
Joe Lietmann, the World Bank’s environment co-ordinator for Indonesia, has said that the overall cost of conservation efforts in the country could be as much as US$15bn a year, a cost that Indonesia wants to see covered by developed nations.
