C. Kalimantan blind to illegal logging

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.