YOGYAKARTA – Policy of ecosystem-based spatial development is getting more urgent to be carried out by stakeholders in regions to save the existence of flora and fauna ecosystem which are perishing along with the rate of urban development and large-scale and complex settlement.
This emerged in the ecosystem-based spatial development seminar in Faculty of Forestry. Speakers attending the event were city and regional planning expert of UGM, Bobi Setiawan, Ph.D., and coordinator of WWF's wildlife species Chairul Shaleh.
Bobi said that spatial development based on environmental management is needed due to limited land, especially in Java, namely conflict on productive areas of agriculture and the construction of permanent settlement. "Spatial land has certain limitation. Changes in land have impact not only physically but also socially," Bobi said.
He considered that many cases of spatial utilization occur outside the planning. In addition, spatial constraints facing the challenge of spatial utilization are more dynamic and complex, including what conducted by the private sector and communities themselves. Therefore, people should keep vigilant watch and control the processes of spatial utilization.
The need of spatial development which is not based on ecosystems is more urgent to be done because the impact of policies that ignore these ecosystems has led to reduction in forest areas. He revealed that, each year nearly 2 million hectares of forest are lost and damaged. Whereas the economic value of timber obtained is only 7-10% of the total value of forests. Our protected forest is only 37 million ha. "Degraded forests are approximately 59.1 million hectares and 42.1 million ha of forests is in critical condition," he said.
Meanwhile, Chairul Shaleh said there is an agreement between governors throughout Sumatera in the development of saving Sumatran ecosystems. The agreement signed in 2008 consists of three important issues, the first is ecosystem-based spatial management of Sumatera Island. Secondly, restoration of critical areas for protection of life, and the third, protecting the area that has important value system of protection of life, biodiversity and climate change.
He added that the plan of action in ecosystem-based spatial development in Sumatra includes the restoration of ecosystems that have suffered degradation, conservation and management of remaining tropical forest ecosystem and biodiversity and development of incentive model in the implementation of land use.