Apkindo criticizes new logging system

Apkindo criticizes new logging system

JAKARTA (JP): The government's decision to authorize
provincial administrations to grant logging contracts to
cooperatives and small companies could open up opportunities for
corruption, the Association of Indonesian Wood Panel Producers
(Apkindo) warned on Monday.

Apkindo's executive director, A. Tjipto Wignjoprajitno, said
that if corrupt and collusive practices were involved in the
granting of logging contracts, the country's forests would
suffer. He explained that loggers acquiring concessions in this
manner might be neither qualified nor responsible enough to
manage the forests appropriately.

"We fear that the move will open possibilities for corruption
and collusion between local administrations and parties which are
not qualified to manage forests in an environmentally sustainable
manner," he said in a news conference.

"So we need tighter supervision and regulation to ensure that
no collusion will happen."

Minister of Forestry and Plantations Muslimin Nasution said
last week that the government would grant logging contracts for
one million hectares of forests to cooperatives and small
businesses. He said this was to give more people a share in the
management of the country's forest resources.

Muslimin said the forest areas to be granted to each small
operator would be limited to 10,000 hectares.

Provincial administrations will have the authority to grant
logging contracts for the areas less than 10,000 hectares.
Muslimin said this was part of the central government's efforts
to give local administrations greater autonomy in managing the
country's forests.

Local cooperatives applying for logging contracts should have
approval from the provincial governor, he said.

Of the one million hectares of forests to be contracted to
small operators, it is expected there will be about 1,500
concessions with areas less than 10,000 hectares each.

In the past, big timber companies managed millions of hectares
of forest.

Tjipto said it would be hard to control thousands of timber
companies to ensure they manage the forests in a sustainable
fashion.

"It is not the number of the concessions that we fear, but the
supervision of them," he said, adding that there were over 10
million small timber companies operating in the United States.

"But the U.S government's supervision of timber management is
definitely better than here," he said.

To ensure the forests are managed with a high degree of
sustainability, he said Apkindo had suggested the government
establish an independent timber exchange in plywood producing
areas.

He said timber traded in the exchange would have to have a
transportation letter to guarantee that the logs were felled in a
sustainable manner.

"By establishing a wood exchange, the log supply will be
easier to control because we know the amount of timber traded.
But the exchange should be independent," he said. (gis)