Govt told to improve forestry sector data<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A non-governmental organization has called on the government to
\nprovide comprehensive data on the forestry sector to help improve
\nthe planning and monitoring of the country's fast-disappearing
\nforests.<\/p>\n
Forest Watch Indonesia director Togur Manurung said on
\nWednesday that the current data on the forestry sector was so
\npoor it had triggered mismanagement of the country's forests and
\nfurther led to natural disasters, such as floods and landslides.<\/p>\n
"If the forestry data is not improved, the government will
\ncontinue to formulate poor strategies for managing our forests,"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
"In some cases, the lack of data on forest destruction as a
\nresult of illegal logging has made the government underestimate
\nthe actual problem and take the wrong action in dealing with it."<\/p>\n
Togur said the poor data on the forestry sector involved the
\nactual deforestation rate, forest fires damage, the total
\nconcession area, and damage to protected forests and conservation
\nareas.<\/p>\n
The government has indicated that 5.9 million hectares, or 18
\npercent of the country's 32 million hectares of protected forests
\nand conservation areas, have been destroyed. But critics insist
\nthat the actual figure is much higher as the government does not
\nhave enough data.<\/p>\n
The government also revised the deforestation rate up from 1.5
\nmillion hectares per year in 2002 to 2.1 million hectares per
\nyear in 2003.<\/p>\n
Based on the government's data, the total area of forest and
\nmining concessions reaches some 200 million hectares, which was
\nclearly exaggerated given that the country's land area only
\namounts to 191 million hectares.<\/p>\n
The damage inflicted by forest fires between 1997 and 1998 was
\nalso stated in a very wide range between 200,000 hectares and 5
\nmillion hectares in Indonesia's report to the World Summit for
\nSustainable Development, while another official report said that
\nthe area destroyed by forest fires had reached 10 million
\nhectares.<\/p>\n
"I think it's the right time for the government to pay more
\nattention to forestry data if it really wants to improve the
\nmanagement of the country's forests," Togur said.<\/p>\n
"With the current sophisticated technology like satellite
\nimaging combined with field verification, it's not so difficult
\nto provide accurate data on forestry."<\/p>\n
The government also had to give the public access to the
\nforestry sector in a bid to help them understand the actual
\nproblems facing the sector, Togur added.<\/p>\n
Head of the Forestry Planning Agency at the Ministry of
\nForestry Boen M. Purnomo denied that the government data on
\nforestry was still deficient.<\/p>\n
"I think our data on the forestry sector is improving as in
\nseveral cases we have used satellite images. But we admit that
\nour field data remains poor as many local governments perceive
\nthe collection of data as simply being a waste of money," he
\nexplained.<\/p>\n
He said that the ministry had carried out satellite image
\ninterpretation before releasing data on protected forest
\ndestruction despite the controversy over the data.<\/p>\n
On forest fire damage, he said that data discrepancies
\noccurred as forestry ministry staff did not monitor the
\ndestruction simultaneously. "One set of data might be collected
\nduring the early stages of a forest fire, while another set might
\nbe collected later."<\/p>",
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