Amuntai, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - The leading media group in the Indonesia TEMPO group held a special dialogue discussing peatland restoration by presenting North Hulu Sungai (HSU) Regent H Abdul Wahid HK as a guest speaker.
The dialogue with the theme 'Peat Restoration in the Eye of Local Government' was widely publicized through TEMPO Group media channels.
The HSU Regent became a source person because the northern area of South Kalimantan has large peatlands covering 89 percent of the district area.
"The peatlands in our area are quite large, which is around 25.672 hectares and 6.273 hectares among them are restoration priorities," Wahid said in Amuntai, Friday (July 24, 2020).
Regarding Peat Restoration Agency (BRG) program in HSU since two years ago as many as 16 villages were designated as Peat Care Villages.
According to Wahid, the HSU District government and the people in the 16 villages were greatly helped and felt the benefit of the program.
"We feel a very positive impact in the areas of increasing human resources, popular economy, and use of land for the welfare of the community, in addition to increasing insight into the productive economy in the village," he said.
"But with so many peatlands, our areas is naturally vulnerable to fires due to lack of community understanding of the losses caused by land clearing by burning," Wahid said.
However, the HSU government keeps providing a comprehensive understanding to the community through the village apparatus so as not to clear land by burning.
"In fact, we also provide assistance through relevant agencies and village funds to support the prevention of land and forest fire. Thus fire prevention facilities are available in the village," he said.
Wahid added that in supporting the BRG program the local government had issued a regent regulation (perbup) hoping BRG to stay to be a companion for the village.
"Since 2019 we have issued perbup for the Peat Care Villages and surrounding villages to always synergize in developing economy and to the central government to continue providing village companion considering the existence of BRG is really important and beneficial, it should be strengthened," he concluded.
The dialogue which was held in a live stream also presented the Deputy Regent of Musi Banyuasin Beni Hernedi, Chief Cohong Village of Pulang Pisau District Yanto L. Adam, and University of Indonesia's anthropologist Suraya Afiff as a peat researcher.
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