C. Kalimantan blind to illegal logging

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The relevant authorities in Central Kalimantan have paid no attention to media pressure to halt illegal logging, which is still rampant in tropical forests there, reports have said.

Antara news agency reported over the weekend that out of several forests in the province, the large Sebangau forest located in Katingan and Pulang Pisau regencies and Palangka Raya municipality were the worst affected by illegal logging.

In the 600,000-hectare forest area, hundreds of canals -- which were excavated by locals and illegal loggers as transportation infrastructure -- have been used to transport illegally felled trees to sawmills, where they are semi-processed before being smuggled to the neighboring county of Malaysia.

The wire service said that many security posts had been operating along the riverbanks and in the forest but had been abandoned for unspecified reasons.

Both the local police and military have avoided dealing with the problem as the local forestry office has its own special police unit to patrol the forests. But many sides have criticized local security authorities for the alleged involvement of security personnel in the illegal practice.

According to the news agency, only young trees are found in much of the forest since there has been little action to stop logging.

Kompas daily also reported that illegal logging had been ongoing as the local administration and security authorities had been slow to act.

Those managing the illegal operations say that the rainy season is the peak period for removing trees from the forest.

A businessman said that he bought illegally felled logs from locals at a price of Rp 40,000 (US$4.8) per cubic meter and then sold the logs at the price of 90,000 per cubic meter.

An unidentified manager said he could sell the logs to sawmills for between Rp 100,000 and Rp 200,000 per cubic meter.

Director of the Sebangau conservation project Drosospolino warned that millions of residents of the three regencies would face dwindling water supplies, especially during the dry season, as there were few big trees left in the forest.

"Sebangau forest acts as a water catchment area that maintains water supplies to homes and farms, the local administration should curb illegal logging and re-green all barren areas," he argued.

Drosospolino, also an official of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Kalimantan, said WWF had offered its cooperation with the Indonesian government to declare Sebangau a protected forest and develop a conservation program to prevent further devastation.

"This step is urgent in order to salvage the environment and local people's social interests," he said.

Meanwhile, Prof. Muhammad Naiem, an environmental expert of Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta, called for a national moratorium on logging due to the absence of law enforcement in the forestry sector.

"Indonesia's forests have almost vanished due to rampant logging. This situation could be salvaged by stopping logging activities and intensifying the re-greening program over the next 30 years," Antara quoted Naiem as saying on Saturday.

He said that rampant illegal logging was tied to the inappropriate implementation of regional autonomy, which allowed regents to issue forestry concessions without control, to improve their regional revenue.