Immediate rehabilitation schemes needed for forests<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Experts and environmentalists on Thursday asked
\nthe Interdepartmental Committee on Forestry (IDCF) to work on
\nfour schemes designed to safeguard the country's 142 million
\nhectares of forest, 30 million hectares of which need prompt
\nrehabilitation.<\/p>\n
Led by Coordinating Minister for the Economy, the IDCF has set
\nitself four priorities areas to be tackled, namely forest fires,
\nillegal logging, forest mapping, and forest listing and
\nrestructuring, said expert on natural resources and environmental
\neconomics Mubariq Ahmad.<\/p>\n
\"But nothing concrete has been undertaken in respect of these
\nfour areas, despite the fact that Indonesia is committed to
\ndealing with them along with the other eight commitments given on
\nforestry and plantations as previously scheduled by the CGI
\n(Consultative Group on Indonesia),\" Mubariq told the media on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
The IDCF is jointly run by the relevant ministries and
\nagencies, among them the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry,
\nthe National Police, non-governmental organizations and the
\nIndonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (BPPN).<\/p>\n
Accompanying Mubariq at the media briefing held at the offices
\nof the Natural Resources Management Program (NRMP) were forestry
\neconomics expert Azis Khan, anthropologist Mering Ngo and the
\nNRMP's spokeswoman Elshinta Suyoso-Marsden.<\/p>\n
It is reported that the next preliminary meeting of the CGI is
\nslated for April 23, Mubariq said.<\/p>\n
\"And we have heard that the World Bank and those involved in
\nthe CGI will push us on these matters so the government must act
\nsoon to prove their seriousness in managing our forests,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The experts also criticized the government's lack of attention
\nand efforts in protecting indigenous people's property and
\nownership rights.<\/p>\n
\"For instance, we have been abandoning the local people's hak
\nulayat (traditional rights) in forestry,\" Azis Khan said.<\/p>\n
\"Once an area is declared a forest concession site, the locals
\nare driven away from their homes and they gradually lose their
\nsense of belonging.. and when a forest fire breaks out, the
\npeople no longer feel that they have to try to save the forest,\"
\nhe explained.<\/p>\n
A multitude of different customary property rights are
\nexercised by various ethnic groups in Indonesia and these need to
\nbe accommodated so as to resolve conflicts in forestry and
\nplantation agriculture, Azis said.<\/p>\n
While quoting data collected by Forest Watch, Mubariq further
\nsaid that there were some 4,000 conflicts concerning forests and
\nplantations extant nationwide.<\/p>\n
\"These cases include disputes between forest concessionaires,
\nconcessionaires and locals, locals and the government,
\nconcessionaires and the government, and many other permutations
\nbesides,\" he explained.<\/p>\n
On illegal logging, 70 percent of the wood obtained from such
\nactivities ended up in the formal market, Azis said.<\/p>\n
\"This is a sad fact and it has been going on for a long time.
\nWe have suggested that all companies involved in logging be
\nchecked by the authorities to find out whether they have legally
\nobtained the wood or not.<\/p>\n
\"If not, sanctions must be imposed on them. One way to do that
\nwould be by reducing the size of their operation so that it could
\nbe supplied by legal logging alone,\" Azis said.<\/p>\n
There are seven categories of illegal logging, including over
\nfelling by concessionaires, logging outside the designated areas
\nand looting of timber.<\/p>\n
\"We hope the newly installed Minister of Forestry (Marzuki
\nUsman) is committed to dealing with the forestry sector's
\nabundant problems,\" Azis said. (edt)<\/p>",
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