KBRN, Jakarta: The Ministry of Forestry (MoF) signed an MoU with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Indonesia. This signing was done again, after the previous termination of cooperation for 5 years.

The MoU was signed between the Ministry of Forestry, in this case through the Director General of KSDAE, and the WWF Indonesia Foundation, at the Ministry of Forestry Office, Jakarta, Wednesday (5/2/2025).

Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni, and Deputy Forestry Minister Sulaiman Umar witnessed the signing of the MoU.

"This afternoon I feel very happy, after a 5-year gap, finally today the Ministry of Forestry and WWF re-signed the MoU, which will make the delayed cooperation, can be continued and even more productive, God willing," said the Minister of Forestry.

"As long as the goal is productive, then God willing, I will support it. With WWF, we have many work plans, including the Elephant corridor in Aceh, from the land handed over by President Prabowo, which became an elephant sanctuary, an elephant corridor, for the sake of our better elephants, our better environment, and our cooler forests," he added.

Meanwhile, the CEO of WWF-Indonesia, Aditya Bayunanda, said he was happy with the re-establishment of cooperation with the Ministry of Forestry, under the leadership of Raja Antoni.

Aditya said that his organization will help the government to maintain conservation, as well as the management of rare and endangered animals.

Aditya said."Of course, we hope that we can help again, in the context of maintaining conservation and management, especially of rare and endangered animals," said Aditya. After working with the Ministry of Forestry, he ensured that the elephant corridor in Aceh would be a top priority, which WWF Indonesia will do.

"One of the priorities is indeed in Aceh, where the President has instructed, that there is an area in Aceh to be developed into an Elephant sanctuary, around 20 thousand hectares. That is our priority," said Aditya.

"We will also sit down with each UPT, to develop a joint action plan, there are 15 UPTs, and in the MoU, it is mentioned that it takes about 24 months to complete the action plan with each UPT," he continued. Several programs will be cooperated within 5 years, between the Ministry of Forestry and WWF Indonesia.

Then the preservation of Flora and Fauna, through research, inventory and monitoring activities, and handling wildlife conflicts. As well as the development of nature tourism and environmental services, through promotional activities.