PRINCE ALBERT II CAMPS AT SIBERUT FOREST
Prince Albert II of Monaco stayed overnight at the Siberut Conservation Project (SCP)'s base camp on the Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra, on Monday night during his visit to the animal conservation center.
"At a discussion at the base camp with officials of the Mentawai Islands regency, Prince Albert said that SCP's activities were very beneficial to protecting the world's biodiversity, so it has to be supported," Dodi P., the field manager of SCP, which is jointly managed by Deutches Primatenzentrum Gottingen and the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, said Tuesday.
Speaking through satellite telephone from the SCP's base camp, Dodi said that Prince Albert, who is also a member of the board of trustees of the Monaco-based Act for Nature, planned to provide assistance for the SCP's future programs.
Prince Albert became interested in the SCP's activities after its representatives gave a presentation in Germany several years ago, although Act for Nature has not given any financial assistance to the SCP.
The Prince, who visited the islands with several Act for Nature activists and three Monaco TV crew members, also said he supported the sustainable environment development in the Mentawai Islands, especially on Siberut Island.
"Prince Albert II's visit to the base camp constitutes positive publicity for the SCP," Dodi said.
The SCP rents 4,000 hectares of forest belonging to local people for its research purposes, Dodi said, adding that its position had been threatened when the local regency administration tried to convert the forests at Paleonan in North Siberut into production forests for exploitation.
Prince Albert arrived at the SCP's base camp Monday, 4 December 2006, morning after berthing at Muara Sigep, where he had sailed to from Nias aboard the MV Addiction.
From Muara Sigep, the Prince, who was greeted by SCP Coordinator Christopher Abbeg, Deputy Mentawai Islands regent Yudas Sabaggalet and Mentawai Tourism Office Head Zulkarlin, later traveled along the Sigep River for 45 minutes to Paleonan Forest, before walking for one hour to the base camp.
"Prince Albert and his entourage could not see the four types of monkey preserved at the forest because the animals ran away and hid whenever they saw humans," Dodi said.
The Macaca Siberu or bokkoi, the Mentawai monkey, the bilou or dwarf monkey and the simakobu are all protected species and are being studied at the SCP. (The Jakarta Post, 7 December 2006)
---00---
|
