Ministry deplores lack of support in saving forests<\/p>\n
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Forestry has complained that the Ministry of
\nHome Affairs has not given it enough support in its efforts to
\ncurb deforestation in the country.<\/p>\n
One of the Ministry of Forestry's main concerns now is the
\nfact that many regional governments, disregarding the critical
\ncondition of Indonesian forests, have issued a great number of
\nlogging licenses to private firms which would certainly worsen
\nthe situation.<\/p>\n
The ministry has long planned to file a petition with the
\nSupreme Court for judicial review of the bylaws which provide the
\nlegal basis for the issuance of the logging licenses.<\/p>\n
However, the home ministry has not approved the move.<\/p>\n
Boen Poernama, the head of the Forestry Planning Agency at the
\nMinistry of Forestry, said under the existing bureaucratic
\nprocedures, the ministry should gain approval from the home
\nministry before taking any action on local administrations
\nviolating the forestry law.<\/p>\n
\"We have requested their approval (the Ministry of Home
\nAffairs) of our plan several times to petition for the judicial
\nreview, but there has been no response.<\/p>\n
\"If there was no such procedure, we could have requested the
\nSupreme Court to review dozens of controversial forestry bylaws
\nissued by 'defiant' local administrations,\" said Boen on the
\nsidelines of a press conference on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Based on the existing law, the home ministry is the only
\nagency authorized to deal with local administrations.<\/p>\n
If there are any problems resulting from actions of the local
\nadministration, arising from the autonomy law, other ministries
\nhave to coordinate with the home ministry. It will then take the
\nnecessary actions to solve the problems.<\/p>\n
Given the current situation, Boen said, the Ministry of
\nForestry has decided to ask the House of Representatives to help
\nsettle the matter.<\/p>\n
The problem of logging licenses has become a subject of
\ndispute between the Ministry of Forestry and local governments
\ntoday as the latter have refused to comply with the former's
\ninstruction, claiming rights over forests in their respective
\nareas.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Forestry banned the issuance of logging
\nlicenses in 1999 in order to rehabilitate damaged natural
\nforests, as deforestation has affected around 50 million hectares
\nof the country's 120.3 million hectares of forest.<\/p>\n
Forest-concession holders are seen as the main culprits in the
\ndeforestation.<\/p>\n
However, emboldened by greater powers granted by the autonomy
\nlaw, several local administrations have rejected the ministry's
\norder and continued to issue logging licenses.<\/p>\n
For instance, Papua province issued logging licenses to 44
\nprivate firms last year over an area totaling 11.8 million
\nhectares. They are expected to produce around 3 million cubic
\nmeters of timber this year, twice the annual logging quota of 1.5
\nmillion cubic meters set by the ministry for the province.<\/p>\n
Another defiant regency is Sintang in West Kalimantan which
\nhas issued 409 licenses covering a total area of 41,000 hectares.
\nThe regency has targeted its timber output to reach 1.26 million
\ncubic meters per year.<\/p>\n
In Sanggau, another regency in West Kalimantan, the local
\nadministration has targeted an output of 400,000 cubic meters of
\ntimber per year. Worse still, Sanggau has also issued a bylaw
\nallowing locals to export illegally cut timber taken from other
\nprovinces.<\/p>\n
The ministry has limited the national log output for this year
\nto only 6.8 million cubic meters, from 12 million last year, in
\norder to curb deforestation.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ministry-deplores-lack-of-support-in-saving-forests-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}