JAKARTA. Up to 12 botanical gardens are set to be redeveloped by 2019, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) has said.

A budget of Rp 7 billion (US$514,140) has been allocated to support the project, including human resources capacity development, structuring collection gardens and parks, plant collection documentation and cultivation as well as exploration, LIPI's ex-situ plant conservation head Joko R. Witono said on Monday, as quoted by Antara news agency.

Among the botanical gardens to be included in the development project are Samosir Botanical Garden in North Sumatra; Jompie Pare-Pare, Pucak and Massenrempulu Enrekang botanical gardens in South Sulawesi; Banua Botanical Garden in South Kalimantan; Liwa Botanical Garden in West Lampung; Batam Botanical Garden in Riau Islands; Sambas Botanical Garden in West Kalimantan; Lombok Botanical Garden in West Nusa Tenggara; Kendari Botanical Garden in Central Sulawesi; Balikpapan Botanical Garden in East Kalimantan; and Sriwijaya Botanical Garden in South Sumatra.

Joko said LIPI had also allocated Rp 1.1 billion to develop the Enrekang Technopark in South Sulawesi and had temporarily placed 20 employees at each botanical garden to conduct LIPI programs as well as to facilitate communication between LIPI and regional administrations.

The institute targets to develop a total of 47 botanical gardens by 2025. Currently Indonesia has 30 botanical gardens, five of which are managed by LIPI, with 24 run by regional administrations and one managed by a university.

Editor: Barratut Taqiyyah Rafie