Widespread illegal logging to bring more drought, floods<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Prolonged droughts and forest fires will continue to hit the
\ncountry during the dry season as more and more protected forests
\nare destroyed by illegal logging, the Indonesian Forum for the
\nEnvironment (Walhi) said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Walhi said flashfloods and landslides would also plague people
\nduring the rainy season as the remaining forest would no longer
\nbe able to absorb and hold water.<\/p>\n
\"We can't stop the impending disaster unless illegal logging
\nis stopped,\" Walhi executive director Longgena Ginting told The
\nJakarta Post.<\/p>\n
A report has said that illegal logging has been rampant in Mt.
\nLeuser National Park in Aceh and North Sumatra, Kerinci Seblat
\nNational Park located in West Sumatra, Jambi, Riau, South Sumatra
\nand Bengkulu, Mulawarman National Park in South Kalimantan,
\nTanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan, and Roro
\nLindu in Central Sulawesi, following the economic crisis that
\nswept Asia in 1997.<\/p>\n
Illegal logging has reportedly been backed by government
\nofficials in some areas, House legislators, and some Army and
\nNaval officers.<\/p>\n
Longgena said Riau, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan,
\nrecently hit by choking haze from forest fires, remain prone to
\ndrought and fires.<\/p>\n
Numerous regencies in North Sumatra and Aceh are the areas
\nmost vulnerable to major flooding, he said.<\/p>\n
Major floods inundated four regencies in North Sumatra earlier
\nthis year, killing five people.<\/p>\n
Aside from natural disasters, illegal logging in protected
\nforests also jeopardizes endangered species.<\/p>\n
\"I think the illegal logging problem owes a lot to the
\novercapacity of forest-based industries,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In one year, forest-based industries need 63 million cubic
\nmeters of wood, but the government allows concessionaires to cut
\ndown 12 million cubic meters of trees.<\/p>\n
\"How can these industries meet their quotas if they don't buy
\nillegal logs,\" he said. \"But because illegal logging has
\ndestroyed unprotected forests, they are targeting protected
\nareas.\"<\/p>\n
Most of the timber from illegal logging in the country has
\nbeen exported.<\/p>\n
State Minister of Research and Technology Hatta Radjasa said
\nIndonesia ranked second after Brazil as the world's largest
\nsupplier of logs to the international market, but 70 percent of
\nthe timber came from illegal logging.<\/p>\n
Koes Saryadi, spokesman for the Ministry of Forestry, said
\nthat various natural disasters would remain a real threat to the
\ncountry due to illegal logging in protected forests.<\/p>\n
Therefore, the ministry would continue to fight illegal
\nlogging through their cooperation with governments of countries
\nthat have imported illegal logs and their derivative products, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has cooperated with China and Japan to curb illegal
\nlogging and the trade of illegal logs.<\/p>\n
Saryadi said his ministry would arrest those involved in
\nillegal logging, but that would not be effective if they did not
\nhave the locals' support.<\/p>\n
For example, he said, when forest rangers confiscated illegal
\nlogs in Kerinci National Park, the locals tried to burn down the
\nrangers' office.<\/p>\n
\"It will also depend on the efforts from other state
\ninstitutions, such as the National Police, the Attorney General's
\nOffice and judges, to enforce the law,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Under Law No. 41\/1999 on forestry, anyone convicted of
\nactivities linked to illegal logging, its trade or the purchase
\nof illegal logs could face a 10-year jail sentence and a Rp 5
\nbillion (US$561,700) fine.<\/p>\n
However, Longgena said that illegal logging could only be
\nstopped with a moratorium on logging for at least five years.<\/p>\n
\"With a moratorium, we could easily know and arrest those who
\nare carrying out logging,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Longgena said that a five-year moratorium would allow the
\ngovernment to restructure the wood-based industry and reform the
\nutilization of forests.<\/p>\n
He said that Indonesia should take a lesson from China, whose
\ngovernment succeeded in implementing a ten-year logging
\nmoratorium in the early 1980s.<\/p>",
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