Revise forestry bill, say former ministers<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Two former ministers criticized the government-
\nsponsored forestry bill on Tuesday, saying the proposed law was
\ntoo weak to protect the country's forests.<\/p>\n
Former minister of environment Emil Salim said the forestry
\ndraft bill, which the House of Representatives will begin
\ndeliberating on Thursday, should be revised.<\/p>\n
\"The House's debate of the bill should be delayed until new
\nmembers of the House are appointed in September,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Former minister of forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo said
\nthe bill failed to address the rights of local tribes.<\/p>\n
\"No part of this draft recognizes or protects the rights of
\nlocal tribes living in the forests,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He also said the draft law failed to account for new worldwide
\ntrends and views which regarded forests not merely as sources of
\nwood but also as sources of biodiversity.<\/p>\n
\"For example, the draft bill explicitly states that forests
\nare to be exploited. It (the draft bill) will not change the
\nmind-set adopted by our timber companies of exploiting the
\nforests to the maximum.<\/p>\n
\"The draft bill should transform such thinking into
\nenvironmentally friendly forest management,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Djamaludin, who is actively involved with several non-
\ngovernmental organizations addressing forest-related issues, said
\naround 16.57 million hectares of the country's 69.74 million
\nhectares of production forests had been damaged since the
\ngovernment began to award forest concessions to timber companies.<\/p>\n
\"The damage does not include forests destroyed by forest fires
\nfrom 1997 to 1999,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Emil also said the draft law did not support the government's
\nprogram of encouraging public participation in the forestry
\nsector.<\/p>\n
He said the draft law also failed to support the government's
\ncommitment to follow international conventions on forests,
\nbiodiversity and the global climate. Under the conventions, the
\ngovernment agreed to protects its virgin forests and reduce the
\nexploitation of forests in order to protect the global climate.<\/p>\n
\"If the current members of the House pass the bill into law we
\nwill see a strong protest from the international community,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The international community has urged Indonesia, which has the
\nworld's second largest forest area after Brazil, to protect its
\nforests from further degradation.<\/p>\n
Emil also said the draft bill would allow the timber industry
\nto increase its production capacity by 30 percent.<\/p>\n
\"It will further damage our forests because our production
\nforests cannot produce more logs. This will result in the rampant
\nfelling of trees in protected forests and cause a boom in the
\nillegal timber trade,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Emil said the production capacity of the country's wood
\nprocessing industry already exceeded the number of logs produced
\nby the country's forests.<\/p>\n
The country's forests produce 22 million metric tons of logs
\nannually, while the annual capacity of the wood processing
\nindustry reaches over 46 million metric tons.<\/p>\n
\"The government should restructure the country's wood
\nprocessing industry to meet the supply of logs and improve its
\nefficiency,\" he said.(gis)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/revise-forestry-bill-say-former-ministers-1447893297",
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