Restructure forest-based industries<\/p>\n
Lately Indonesia has seen new culprits accelerating
\ndeforestation of the country's already depleted natural forests.
\nThe Ministry of Forestry claims that deforestation is worsening
\nas local administrations are currently in a race to give
\nbusinesspeople hundreds of timber concession licenses in order to
\nhelp fill the regions' coffers.<\/p>\n
Nearly every regency in Kalimantan, Sumatra and Papua has
\nissued an average of 150 timber licenses for the past two years.
\nAccording to a report from the Inspectorate General of the
\nMinistry of Forestry, each license covers an area of up to 10,000
\nhectares. That adds up to around 1.5 million hectares of forests
\nlicensed to be denuded by irresponsible parties every year.<\/p>\n
The issuance of licenses has become uncontrollable, due to the
\nill-prepared autonomy law of 2001 which provides local
\nadministrations the authority to manage local natural resources.
\nIt has become the subject of dispute for the last two years
\nbetween the central government and local administrations.<\/p>\n
In fact local administrations are not the main culprits behind
\nthe rapidly depleting natural forests. Unbridled deforestation
\nhad been going on for decades in this country before the autonomy
\nlaw came into effect.<\/p>\n
Forest cover across the country fell from 162 million hectares
\nin 1950 to only about 98 million hectares in 2000, a loss of
\nalmost 1.3 million hectares on average every year. Between 1985
\nthrough 1998, during the Soeharto regime, the rate of
\ndeforestation varied between 1.6 million hectares and 1.8 million
\nhectares a year. In the year 2000 alone Indonesia lost more than
\n2 million hectares of natural forests, an area half the size of
\nSwitzerland. By 2002, the rate reached more than 2.4 million
\nhectares.<\/p>\n
The damage does not stop there. In a conservative estimate of
\nthe remaining 95 million hectares of forests, not less than 40.26
\nmillion hectares have been affected by deforestation. It is not
\nvery difficult to calculate how many more years would be left
\nbefore there are no forests remaining in the whole country, with
\nall the negative consequences not only for Indonesia, but for the
\nwhole world as well. Tropical forests which serve as the lungs of
\nthe earth -- besides other vital functions -- will be limited to
\nsome remaining patches in Africa and South America.<\/p>\n
One of the factors that stimulates this rapid acceleration of
\ndeforestation is the fact that the installed capacity of wood-
\nbased enterprises in the country has reached an incredible figure
\nof 80 million cubic meters a year. Out of that figure, the
\nestimated actual capacity is around 63 million cubic meters a
\nyear.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, the licensed log production permitted by
\nthe Ministry of Forestry is only around 12 million m3 a year,
\nwhich is already far beyond the sustainable capacity of the
\nremaining forests across the country. The ministry plans to
\ndisburse log production licenses this year limited to only about
\n6.4 million m3.<\/p>\n
The incredibly huge discrepancy between supply and demand,
\nwith pulp and plywood mills alone already devouring wood much
\nfaster than forests can grow, is the main stimulus that leads to
\nillegal logging. It is the main stimulus that drives almost
\neverybody who have some power to recklessly cut down Indonesian
\nforests.<\/p>\n
With the issuance of Presidential Decree No. 80 in 2000, the
\ngovernment launched the Inter-Departmental Committee on Forestry
\n(IDCF) to coordinate efforts in curbing illegal logging. So far
\nthe IDCF has failed to perform its duty, mostly because it has
\nnot focused its efforts on decreasing the capacity of wood-based
\nenterprises to a level that matches the sustainable capacity of
\nour natural forests.<\/p>\n
Of course restructuring is not easy and neither is it
\ncostless. Among other things, restructuring implies unemployment
\nfor tens of thousands of people currently working in that sector.
\nHowever, that cost is negligible compared to the irreplaceable
\ntropical forests that we still have and to the losses that the
\ncountry already has had to bear.<\/p>\n
The government cannot afford to stall any longer. It has to
\nimmediately take bold moves to restructure the wood-based
\nindustry, decrease its capacity, close down more than 100
\nforestry companies now under the supervision of IBRA, and put a
\nmoratorium on forest concessions. That is the only way to stop
\nillegal logging which costs us around $4 billion a year. That is
\nthe only way to save our tropical forests from total destruction.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/restructure-forest-based-industries-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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