2004 elections add to forestry woes

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Illegal logging is set to intensify this year as political parties race to raise funds, even from illegal logging, to finance their campaigns ahead of the 2004 general elections, a senior government official warned on Wednesday.

The warning was voiced by I Made Subadia, the Director General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation at the Ministry of Forestry, during a meeting with the House of Representatives' Commission III for forestry and agriculture affairs.

Based on previous experiences, Subadia said, illegal logging usually rose dramatically prior to general elections.

The ministry said that this was because many politicians would press the illegal loggers to provide them with more kickbacks.

"We predict the preparation of the upcoming general election, which is usually tense, will have an impact on our forests in the sense that it will intensify illegal logging practices," Subadia said.

Predictably, the statement infuriated most of the Commission members.

"We can't accept such an accusation. It is illogical. We demand the statement be retracted," an angry legislator said.

Most of the Commission members nodded in approval.

Unconfirmed reports said that many members of the Commission were involved in the logging business and even had forest concessions in Kalimantan and Sumatra before being elected as legislators.

Subadia reiterated that the rise in the illegal logging was an all too unfortunate, yet common, phenomenon ahead of any general election in the country.

"Anyway, I see why they would demand that I retract the statement if it has caused inconvenience to the House members," admitted Subadia.

During his presentation, Subadia did not provide the projected figures of illegal timber this year, but he said last year, the volume of illegally-cut forest was estimated to reach 20 million to 30 million cubic meters.

The ministry's data say Indonesia lost between 2.1 and 2.5 million hectares of natural forests last year, in comparison to the annual depletion rate of 1.6 million hectares in the previous five years.

During the meeting, Subadia also voiced concerns over the move by many regions in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua to issue forest concession licenses despite the fact that a 2001 forestry law bans the issuance of such licenses by anyone but the central government.

This will exacerbate the already grim situation of the country's forests, he said.

After being sidelined for many decades, local administrations are now eager to take what is left in their forests which were massively plundered mostly by greedy businessmen during former president Soeharto's reign.

Subadia said local administrations, which have been given greater powers to handle their own political and economic affairs, were not happy that the control of conservation areas still lied with the central government and so most defy the law.

The ministry data showed that about 300 concession licenses had been issued by the regencies over the past two years, covering a total area of 2 million hectares.

Subadia also said poverty, which had been on the rise due to the economic crisis, was also a factor behind the rise in the illegal logging as many impoverished people would do anything, including illegal logging, for survival.

Besides, the illegal logging has also been on the rise thanks to the high demand for timber from China, he said .

He predicted China needed at least 40 million cubic meters of timber each year, most of which was expected to come from Indonesia.