Apkindo criticizes new logging system<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government's decision to authorize
\nprovincial administrations to grant logging contracts to
\ncooperatives and small companies could open up opportunities for
\ncorruption, the Association of Indonesian Wood Panel Producers
\n(Apkindo) warned on Monday.<\/p>\n
Apkindo's executive director, A. Tjipto Wignjoprajitno, said
\nthat if corrupt and collusive practices were involved in the
\ngranting of logging contracts, the country's forests would
\nsuffer. He explained that loggers acquiring concessions in this
\nmanner might be neither qualified nor responsible enough to
\nmanage the forests appropriately.<\/p>\n
"We fear that the move will open possibilities for corruption
\nand collusion between local administrations and parties which are
\nnot qualified to manage forests in an environmentally sustainable
\nmanner," he said in a news conference.<\/p>\n
"So we need tighter supervision and regulation to ensure that
\nno collusion will happen."<\/p>\n
Minister of Forestry and Plantations Muslimin Nasution said
\nlast week that the government would grant logging contracts for
\none million hectares of forests to cooperatives and small
\nbusinesses. He said this was to give more people a share in the
\nmanagement of the country's forest resources.<\/p>\n
Muslimin said the forest areas to be granted to each small
\noperator would be limited to 10,000 hectares.<\/p>\n
Provincial administrations will have the authority to grant
\nlogging contracts for the areas less than 10,000 hectares.
\nMuslimin said this was part of the central government's efforts
\nto give local administrations greater autonomy in managing the
\ncountry's forests.<\/p>\n
Local cooperatives applying for logging contracts should have
\napproval from the provincial governor, he said.<\/p>\n
Of the one million hectares of forests to be contracted to
\nsmall operators, it is expected there will be about 1,500
\nconcessions with areas less than 10,000 hectares each.<\/p>\n
In the past, big timber companies managed millions of hectares
\nof forest.<\/p>\n
Tjipto said it would be hard to control thousands of timber
\ncompanies to ensure they manage the forests in a sustainable
\nfashion.<\/p>\n
"It is not the number of the concessions that we fear, but the
\nsupervision of them," he said, adding that there were over 10
\nmillion small timber companies operating in the United States.<\/p>\n
"But the U.S government's supervision of timber management is
\ndefinitely better than here," he said.<\/p>\n
To ensure the forests are managed with a high degree of
\nsustainability, he said Apkindo had suggested the government
\nestablish an independent timber exchange in plywood producing
\nareas.<\/p>\n
He said timber traded in the exchange would have to have a
\ntransportation letter to guarantee that the logs were felled in a
\nsustainable manner.<\/p>\n
"By establishing a wood exchange, the log supply will be
\neasier to control because we know the amount of timber traded.
\nBut the exchange should be independent," he said. (gis)<\/p>",
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