The Indonesian environment ministry has 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 orangutan and rhino populations.
The ministry’s director for protected areas told Mongabay 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. (Mongabay)
Another report related to the Geothermal Plan
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