One million hectares of forest to be alloted to cooperatives<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government will allocate at least one
\nmillion hectares of the country's forests to cooperatives in
\norder to give more people an opportunity to manage the country's
\nforest resources, Minister of Forestry and Plantations Muslimin
\nNasution said.<\/p>\n
Muslimin said on Friday cooperatives would be given logging
\ncontracts to manage the forest areas.<\/p>\n
"The one million hectares of forest allocated to cooperatives
\nare part of 11 million hectares of forest which have been and
\nwill be taken over by the government from the old
\nconcessionaires," he said.<\/p>\n
Muslimin said the government would take over 11 million
\nhectares of forest concession areas by 2000, mostly from existing
\ntimber companies whose concession rights had expired or were
\nsuspended because of violations.<\/p>\n
When timber companies' concession rights expire, the
\ngovernment can extend the contracts, but the concession areas
\nwill be limited to comply with a decree issued by the Ministry of
\nForestry and Plantations late last year.<\/p>\n
Under the new decree, each concessionaire will be limited to a
\nmaximum of 100,000 hectares of forest in a province. Although
\nconcessionaires will be allowed to manage forests in other
\nprovinces, the total area under their management cannot exceed
\n400,000 hectares.<\/p>\n
The government will take over the excess forest areas and
\nauction them off or grant them to cooperatives.<\/p>\n
"Of the 11 million hectares, one million hectares will be
\ngranted to local cooperatives, small-scale businesses and
\nuniversities, while the remaining 10 million will be offered to
\nthe public through auction," he said.<\/p>\n
Muslimin said the forest areas to be granted to each
\ncooperative and small-scale business would be limited to 10,000
\nhectares, while those forest areas to be auctioned off would
\nrange between 50,000 and 100,000 hectares.<\/p>\n
Logging contracts for areas less than 10,000 hectares will be
\ngiven to cooperatives and small-scale firms by provincial
\ngovernors as part of the government's effort to give local
\nadministrations greater autonomy in managing the country's forest
\nassets, he said.<\/p>\n
Local cooperatives which apply for logging contracts should
\nhave a recommendation from the governor, he said.<\/p>\n
The ministry has set several criteria to determine which
\ncooperatives are qualified to manage the forest in an
\nenvironmentally sustainable manner, he said.<\/p>\n
The government is trying to create equal opportunities for
\nmore people to manage forests assets. Aside from granting
\nconcessions to cooperatives, the government also has obliged
\ntimber companies to sell at relaxed terms at least 20 percent of
\ntheir shares to cooperatives.<\/p>\n
The government first began to award forest concessions to
\nprivate companies in 1971 under the Forestry Law, which grants
\nconcession holders the sole right to cultivate and exploit the
\nforest in their concession areas.<\/p>\n
The move led to a concentration of the country's forests in
\nthe hands of a small number of business groups.<\/p>\n
As part of the move to give more people the opportunity to
\nmanage the forests, Sulaeman L. Hamzah, head of the Irian Jaya
\nchapter of the Indonesian Indigenous Businessmen Association,
\nsaid the ministry allocated 10,000 hectares of forest in the
\nprovince to cooperatives formed by local tribes.<\/p>\n
Sulaeman was quoted by Antara news agency as saying that in
\nthe past, the government always ignored the rights of tribal
\ncommunities because their region's forests were regarded by the
\nstate as belonging to whoever could raise the capital, labor and
\npolitical patronage to exploit them. (gis)<\/p>",
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