West Java administration suspends industrial logging<\/p>\n
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The West Java administration has decided to suspend all
\nindustrial logging for the next three years in an attempt to
\nregreen its barren forest areas, which have contributed to
\nenvironmental deterioration and natural disasters such as floods
\nand landslides over the last few years.<\/p>\n
With the decision it hoped it would have a \"breathing space\"
\nto rehabilitate its devastated forest and draft a bylaw to
\ncontrol its forestry and maintain its sustainable development
\nprogram.<\/p>\n
Mubiar Purwasasmita, an environment expert from the Bandung
\nInstitute of Technology (ITB), told a media conference here on
\nWednesday that the moratorium on logging was the only feasible
\noption for seeking a comprehensive solution to salvaging the
\nprovince's forests, 95 percent of which had been converted to
\nfarmland and housing complexes.<\/p>\n
\"The suspension is more like shock therapy to local people,
\nbusinesspeople and also the government following their failure to
\ndeal with the prolonged deforestation. All sides have yet to
\nrealize that the forest is already in a alarming condition,\" said
\nMubiar, also a member of the bylaw drafting team.<\/p>\n
The media conference facilitated by the Indonesian Forum for
\nthe Environment (Walhi) is part of a campaign for a national
\nmoratorium on logging. West Java province is the first
\nadministration to carry out such policy.<\/p>\n
The suspension was imposed under a gubernatorial decree issued
\non Nov. 26, 2001, which orders state-owned timber company PT
\nPerhutani and the provincial forestry unit to stop industrial
\nlogging from March 2002.<\/p>\n
The decree allows the logging only of teak but not from the
\npreserved forests.<\/p>\n
Under regional autonomy, the provincial administration has
\ntaken full control of the province's forests from state-owned PT
\nPerhutani in the light of rampant illegal logging and intensive
\nconversion of forest areas into agricultural land and housing
\ncomplexes. That has caused flooding and landslides in critical
\nareas of the province, including Bandung, the provincial capital.<\/p>\n
It aims to convert 40 percent of the barren areas into
\nconservation areas by 2010.<\/p>\n
Husein said the forested areas in the province had halved from
\n1.5 million hectares in the 1970s to 770,000 hectares in the
\n1990s. Some 70 percent of the remaining forest was damaged due to
\nrapid population growth in the province.<\/p>\n
The presence of villas and housing compounds in the Puncak
\nmountain resort, a protected forest located in Bogor and Cianjur
\nregencies, and the overflowing Citarum river in the province have
\nalso contributed to the recent flooding in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The issuance of the decree was forced by the indigenous people
\nwho believe that 45 percent to 55 percent of the province's 4.4
\nmillion square kilometer area should be covered by forest.<\/p>\n
In the indigenous people's declaration, titled Manglayang
\nDemands, the residents point out that they want to designate the
\nforest as a resource for their livelihood and culture and also,
\nto maintain sustainable forest development and economic growth.<\/p>\n
Former West Java governor Solihin GP, who is also member of
\nthe People's Consultative Assembly, said that business-oriented
\nPerhutani no longer managed the forest.<\/p>\n
\"The moratorium is essential to rehabilitate the forest. The
\nloggers, who lost their jobs, can change profession to become
\nhelpers who reforest the province,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/west-java-administration-suspends-industrial-logging-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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