1. INDONESIA'S N SUMATRA TO JOIN BERLIN TOURISM EXHIBITION.

The tourism board of Indonesia's North Sumatra province, in cooperation with a number of the provincial tourism companies, will take part in the international tourism exhibition in Berlin on March 12-16, the head of the board said. "The move is one way of increasing the number of foreign tourists visiting the province," Henry Hutabarat said.
The province took part in the same event in 1999. North Sumatra is home to tropical rainforests and natural parks.

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2. PAPUA'S TROPICAL FORESTS 2ND BEST IN WORLD, SAYS WWF OFFICIAL.

Papua - Millions of hectares of tropical forests in Papua province are the second best in the world and should therefore be managed in a sustained way, regional director of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Benja Viktor Mambai, said.
Forests in Papua are like a pradise on earth as they are home home to beautiful species and different kinds of timber which need proper management, Mambai said.
He said successful forest management involved local people as was being done in Papua New Guinea (PNG) where non-governmental organizations were engaged in the management of forests.
According to him, people in PNG were playing an active role in that country's sustainable forest management program.
But he noted that the Papua provincial forestry office and cooperative affairs office had already engaged local people in their sustainable forest management programs.
He said the WWF had earmarked two locations in the province to serve as centres for forest management study, namely, in Merauke and Jayapura districts.
Mambai said the WWF's Papua regional office was very concerned about sustainable forest management and therefore the matter was included in the world organization's work programs.
On the prevalance of illegal logging in Papua, he said the security authorities along with the local people must pay special attention to the problem.
Mambai warned that forests in Papua were attractive to certain parties wishing to take the utmost advantage of the forests only for their own benefit.

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3. KNOWLEDGE ABOUT ENVIRONMENT TO BECOME PART OF SCHOOL CURRICULUMS.

The government will make knowledge of the biological environment a subject of study in schools in an effort to change the general public's indifference about the environment, Ministry official said. "Our job will be preparing materials for the lessons in schools. The subject will be included in the school curriculum through an instruction from the National Education Ministry and the Religious Affairs Ministry," Hutomo, a deputy to the State Minister for the Environment, said.
He said the many floods, landslides and forest fires occurring in the country were a reflection of the people's lack of concern for the environment.

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4. AGENCY ALLOCATES RP175 BILLION FOR FP PROGRAM ACROSS RI.

The National Family Planning Coordinating Agency (BKKBN) has allocated Rp175 billion to Rp225 billion per year for family planning program, including the provision of contraceptives for poor people across the country, its head Sumaryati Aryoso said
The program is being continued as the reproductive rate among poor people is still high, she said after cosigning a cooperation agreement between the Muhammadiyah general hospital and the US-based University of John Hopkins.
The program is dubbed "Sustaining Technical Achievements in Reproductive Health/Family" (STARH).
The family planning fund has been focused on poor people as 19 percent of Indonesia's population of 219 million is poor people, she said.
The reproductive rate among poor people is 3, higher than 2.1 among rich people, she said adding that the BKKBN would distribute the contraceptives among poor people freely through government and private clinics.

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The Australian government handed over a number of animals to the Ragunan Zoo in South Jakarta.
The animals -- two pairs of kangaroos, two pairs of cockatoos, a pair of kookaburras, and a pair of Crimson Rosella birds -- were handed over by Australian Ambassador to Indonesia David Ritchie.
These animals reflect the eternal relations and understanding between the government and the people of the two countries, the ambassador said.
The animals were from the Taronga Zoo in Australia.
The two zoos established communication in 1963 when they exchanged kangaroos and komodos.
Meanwhile, head of the Ragunan Zoo, Edy Setiyarto, said the animals arrived at the Ragunan Zoo last Feb 3 and have already adjusted to their new home.
The 140-hectare Ragunan Zoo has 3,200 kinds of animals, some 90 percent of which consists of local species.

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6. INDOESIAN CHILDREN'S FUND, UNICEF HOLD ESSAY-WRITING COMPETITION.

The Indonesian Children's Welfare Fund (YKAI) in cooperation with the United Nations Children's Education Fund (Unicef) is holding an essay-writing competition for Indonesian teenagers aged 12-18 years on the theme "Creating a World Suitable for Children".
According to Wenny Widayatmi from YKAI, the competition was expected to stimulate young writers all over Indonesia to dare to be creative beyond their internal media.
At the competition, UNICEF would present its Unicef Award For Indonesian Young Writers to the best writers.
The competition's theme had been chosen in the hope that all children would be able to live in better conditions, free from exploitation, violence, illness, war, poverty, and receive high quality education and a chance to develop in a secure environment.

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7. INDONESIA SHOULD COOPERATE WITH NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES ON CHILD TRAFFICKING.

Indonesia needs to cooperate with its neighboring countries to deal with child trafficking, which has become a major issue in Southeast Asia, UNICEF spokeswoman, Julie Lebegue, said here Monday.
Julie was here to attend the Southeast Asian conference on child trafficking, being participated in by some 300 representatives of countries in Southeast Asia.
She was commenting on the growing concern over child trafficking in Southeast Asian countries including Indonesia, which she said has yet to have a serious cooperation with neighboring countries to overcome the problem.
Julie stressed on the great need for a close cooperation among Indonesia and its neighboring ASEAN countries, especially their respective police forces and non-governmental organizations.
She pointed out that child trafficking is the result of a consumptive lifestyle, poverty and the lack of parents' awareness of the importance of giving their children education.
"The basic cause of child trafficking is consumptive lifestyle," she said, adding that child trafficking is a problem in a number of Indonesian cities such as Batam, Riau province and Medan, North Sumatra province.
Pointing out that child trafficking is rampant in Indonesia and Malaysia, Julie said both countries should cooperate, like Cambodia and Vietnam, to overcome the illegal practice.
She expressed hope that the two-day Southeast Asian conference here, which will run until Tuesday, would yield the best possible solution to child trafficking.
About 300 participants from Southeast Asian countries are attending the seminar, which has brought forward 25 noted speakers from various non-governmental organizations throughout the region.

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8. BULGARIAN NEWS AGENCY SETS UP COOPERATION WITH INDONESIA'S ANTARA, SAYS ENVOY.

The Bulgarian news agency, BTA, has set up cooperations with foreign news agencies, including Indonesia's ANTARA, for the exchange of news stories and the improvement of the quality of these stories, Indonesian Ambassador to Bulgaria R Broto Utomo said.
Besides ANTARA, BTA has also set up cooperations with the news agencies of Algeria, Germany, Jordan, Greece, Russia and Serbia, he said.
A memorandum of understanding between ANTARA and BTA was signed during the visit of Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov to Indonesia on Sept 13 last year, he said.
The MoU stressed the importance of reciprocal visits between ANTARA's and BTA's managing editors and senior editors to exchange views on how to improve the quality of news stories and human resources, Broto said.
BTA will pick correspondents for Brussels, Washington, Skopje, Athens, Ankara and Bucharest in the near future, he said, adding that BTA will open branches in Bulgaria as well.
Broto said the cooperation between ANTARA and BTA should be followed up and realized as the Bulgarian press are highly dependent on the Western press to obtain news on Indonesia.

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The Sepuluh November Institute of Surabaya (ITS), in cooperation with France's University of De La Rochelle, will conduct research in Kangean Island, Madura Island in Indonesia's East Java province.
"We will conduct three major research studies in marine biology, geodesy and eco-sociology, including linguistics," head of the team from the French university, Philippe Grange, said.
The French team arrived here and met with the ITS team.

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