Incentives urged to stop deforestation<\/p>\n
Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Environmentalists and foresters suggested on Thursday that more
\nincentives be offered to countries that have vast areas of
\ntropical forests, such as Indonesia, and to timber companies,
\nwhich all play roles in preventing further deforestation.<\/p>\n
Forests and livelihood program officer of the Bogor-based
\nCenter for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) Hari Priyadi
\nsaid that the lack of incentives has made timber companies in
\nIndonesia reluctant to implement "reduced impact logging (RIL)".<\/p>\n
RIL is a collection of forest harvesting techniques which
\nresults in low levels of damage to the stock of residual trees,
\nsoil and water.<\/p>\n
"The Ministry of Forestry has issued a regulation in 2001 that
\nall companies in Indonesia must implement RIL in their
\nconcession, but such a move isn't effective because the
\ngovernment doesn't offer any incentives to the firms," he told a
\nworkshop on Thursday at the Asia Europe Environment Forum in
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
The three-day forum, which began on Wednesday, features 12
\nworkshops to discuss various environmental issues and is being
\nattended by around 300 environmentalists from 38 countries in
\nAsia and Europe.<\/p>\n
Another CIFOR activist, Herry Purnomo, proposed that countries
\nand companies, which have been carrying out sustainable tropical
\nforest management should also be compensated under the Clean
\nDevelopment Mechanism (CDM).<\/p>\n
"Carbon trading should provide attractive incentives to grow
\ntrees," he said.<\/p>\n
CDM is one of the mechanisms regulated under the Kyoto
\nProtocol to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. It requires
\ndeveloped countries to reduce their gas emissions by 5.2 percent
\nfrom 2008 to 2012, and to finance projects in developing
\ncountries that can reduce gas emissions.<\/p>\n
Under the scheme, the trade of per ton carbon dioxide
\nequivalent (tCO2) is worth between US$3 and $6 in the
\ninternational market.<\/p>\n
According to Indonesia's National Commission of CDM, the
\ncountry has a potential to reduce up to 300 million tCO2, which
\nis equal to about $1.65 billion.<\/p>\n
A forester for the Austrian-based International Institute for
\nApplied Systems Analysis, Florian T. Kraxner, said NGOs and
\nenvironmentalists were now lobbying for the inclusion of
\ncertified forest management as a verification tool for CDM
\nprojects.<\/p>\n
"Such certification now merely functions as a market
\ntool ...We are now lobbying that it will also be used as a
\nverification system in the Kyoto Protocol for the 2008-2012
\ncommitment period," he told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Kraxner also said that market punishment was more effective to
\nencourage timber firms to implement sustainable forest
\nmanagement.<\/p>\n
"One possible incentive is to implement a procurement policy
\nin big (wood products) buyer countries, such as the European
\nUnion countries and Japan. The policy, which is now being
\ndiscussed in those countries, will require that the government or
\nthe public should only procure certified timber products," he
\nsaid.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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