Jakarta (ANTARA) - Director of Planning and Evaluation of Watershed Control Saparis Soedarjanto confirmed that the Environment and Forestry Ministry had identified critical watershed areas and conducted rehabilitation in flood-prone areas in Kalimantan.
"We can see that there are damaged upstream watersheds, some within and outside forest areas. We can only intervene inside forest areas," the director noted here on Wednesday.
Soedarjanto spoke of his administration continuing to identify areas that required rehabilitation to encourage comprehensive disaster mitigation efforts by both the central and regional governments.
Following the identification of critical areas that have the risk of being flooded, the Environment and Forestry Ministry then intervened by conducting land rehabilitation.
He emphasized that flooding was not entirely due to forestry factors but also owing to other activities, such as agriculture. Extreme rainfall due to La Nina phenomenon also contributed to the higher likelihood of flooding.
Despite the various factors, the ministry had continued to optimize various efforts to reduce the likelihood of flooding in Kalimantan. He emphasized the importance of the availability of good-quality seeds for watershed rehabilitation.
Thus, the Environment and Forestry Ministry has built several permanent nurseries in North Pontianak, West Kalimantan, and Bukit Merdeka in East Kalimantan.
"Each permanent nursery produces almost one million stems per year, and it is quite large," he noted.
Areas in Sintang District in West Kalimantan were recently hit by flash floods that lasted for several weeks.
President Joko Widodo noted in a statement on Tuesday, November 17, that flooding in the area was caused by damaged rain catchment areas. He has ensured that the government would focus their efforts on rehabilitating the area.
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