240,000 tons illegal logs, wood seized

JAKARTA (JP): More than 240,000 tons of logs and processed wood were from illegally felled trees transported and bought by wood processing companies in 1998, data at the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations show.

Minister of Forestry and Plantations Muslimin Nasution said recently the data indicated that wood fencing and timber smuggling were rampant in the country.

"Illegal logging is getting rampant and criminals do it more blatantly in almost all of our forest areas," he said.

Muslimin said recently his office had confiscated 66,985 cubic meters of illegally transported processed wood and 44,710 cubic meters of illegally-felled logs last year.

The ministry also found 18,177 cubic meters of unclaimed processed wood, 137,110 cubic meters of unclaimed logs, 20 tons of rattan and 10,146 kilograms of sandalwood.

During 1998, Muslimin said, 128,225 cubic meters of wood have been auctioned, bringing in Rp 7.25 billion in state revenues.

Muslimin said that the looting of teakwood in state forestry company Perum Perhutani's areas in Java was also rampant in 1998, causing an estimated loss of Rp 758 million to the company.

The wood had been found and seized in operations conducted by the joint forest security team and the ministry's security apparatus, he said.

The joint forest security team conducted the operations before it was disbanded in April 1998.

The team, which involved officials from the Ministry of Forestry, the Attorney General's Office and the Armed Forces, was set up in 1995 to monitor timber trading and distribution. It also had the authority to take on-the-spot legal action against offenders.

The government decided to abolish the team due to the public complaints about its suspected collusive practices. The government then restored the team's duties to the ministry's security personnel.

"We noticed from the complaints that the illegal logging practices also involved government officials, military officers and concessionaires," he said.

Muslimin acknowledged the important role of timber brokers in such practices. He said that the government had repeatedly warned timber companies not to sell to brokers and reminded the wood processing industry not to buy from such brokers.

But he admitted that it would be difficult to stop their operations since the unfavorable financial conditions of concessionaires often require wood processing firms to pay cash for their timber.

"Since this is not an easy situation for the wood-processing industry, especially amid the current economic crisis, concessionaires often turn to brokers willing to pay cash and offer the timber at lower prices to processing plants," he said.

Prices of legal timber are high because they comprise reforestation funds and resource royalties, which are mandatory fees imposed by the ministry to guarantee that forest concessionaires manage their forests in a environmentally sustainable manner.

Muslimin said that this year, the government will take stronger measures against those carrying out illegal logging activities. (gis)