Even Though The Tour Is Closed, The Management Of Betung Kerihun National Park Is Still Running

JAKARTA - The Betung Kerihun and Danau Sentarum National Park (TN) Balai Besar, continue to carry out various activities related to the management of the area, even though tourist destinations have closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The management activities carried out during this pandemic included area patrols. The main objective is to maintain the security of the NP area from various threats of destruction. Especially patrols for preventing forest fires in an effort to prevent fires in the NP.

"The patrol this time is somewhat different from usual, where the officers used masks while spraying disinfectants at community settlements in the National Park area," said the Head of the Betung Kerihun National Park and Danau Sentarum Center, Arief Mahmud in an official statement quoted. Sunday May 10.

Even though tourist attractions were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, the economy of the people around the National Park could still be helped. One of the steps is, Balai Besar provides assistance and encouragement in terms of production and marketing to the Sentarum Lake Periau Association (APDS).

APDS is one of the assisted community groups that collect Non-Timber Forest Products (HHBK) in the form of forest honey in the Danau Sentarum National Park area. When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, forest honey was one of the products that was highly sought after and in demand by the general public, because it had very good properties for maintaining health and immunity.

Regarding marketing, he said, apart from being able to order directly, APDS honey packaging products can also be ordered online through the shopee electronic trading platform.

He said, in addition to forest honey, currently there is also the development of community empowerment patterns around the buffer of the Betung Kerihun National Park and Danau Sentarum areas in the form of demonstration plots (demonstration plots) for kelulut honey cultivation. The demonstration plot aims to provide a pilot on how to utilize one of the NTFPs potential in the form of kelulut honey which has economic value and is in the area so that it can be cultivated by the surrounding community.

"The high demand for forest honey and kelulut is in line with the increase in the economy of the people in and around the area and does not deviate from the existing conservation principles in the National Park," said Arief.

The President of APDS, Basriwadi explained that one of the programs carried out was that APDS produced around 1,000 300 mg packaging bottles with a promo price of Rp 70,000. This price is much cheaper than the usual price of IDR 100,000, so that it is affordable by the general public and as part of the contribution of APDS in helping efforts to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 Pandemic. APDS has fulfilled orders for honey in the Putussibau, Sanggau, Pontianak, East Kalimantan, Jakarta, Riau Islands, and Batam areas.

"Until now, in a span of 1 month as many as 1,000 bottles of honey packaging have been sold out. With the availability of raw materials for honey, we are committed to preparing ready-to-sell packaged products to meet the increasing demand." Basriwadi said.