Concessionaires responsible for forest destruction

Concessionaires responsible for forest destruction

By Edi Patebang

PONTIANAK, West Kalimantan (JP): Sasak Pekawai village in
Sintang Regency, West Kalimantan, has been witnessing alarming
rates of forest and environmental destruction since regents were
recently given the right to issue concessions over areas of
forest of greater than 100 hectares. The prospects of conflicts
over resource management are also now looming large.

A recent conflict involving the PT. Erna Djuliawati timber
company in the province confirmed the public's fears over the
issuance of the concession. The company's spokesman Lukman
Nulhakim said that the conflict broke out in early July between
PT. Erna Djuliawati, as the concessionaire, and its cooperative
members on the rights to manage the forest.

The rift began when Sintang's regent, Elyakin Simon Jalin,
issued Regional Decree No. 19 of 1999 which gave the right to
local cooperatives to benefit from forest resources, including
the timber within the 100-hectare area.

The enraged villagers threatened to launch attacks, then
closed the road to the area at kilometer 56 using only a thin
piece of plastic rope. Unprepared to take any risks, none of the
cooperative's members dared to touch the rope, forcing the
company to close down its operations for three days. Only after a
deal with the villagers had been made was the company able to
resume its operations.

"The villagers shouldn't have closed the road as the company
had nothing to do with the conflict. It was an internal problem
with the cooperative," Lukman complained.

The incident was sharply criticized by Tommy Ria -- a member
of the Provincial Legislative Council from The Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) -- who regretted Simon's
careless decision in issuing the decree.

"He (the regent) should have first drafted the regency's
spatial plan prior to the issuance of the decree."

Tommy urged the regent to postpone issuing further similar
decrees due to the increasing problems in forest areas, but he
said Simon had disregarded his call and was persisting with his
original plan.

A special coordination meeting on Aug. 2 in Pontianak -- which
was attended by officials from the West Kalimantan Police, the
Ministry of Forestry's provincial office, the Ministry of
Industry and Commerce's provincial office, the local
administration, the immigration office, and customs and excise --
revealed that out of 49 concessions, 14 of them were non-
existent, six were in protected areas while the rest were in
locations belonging to businesspeople who had previously obtained
concessions from the New Order regime.

West Kalimantan Police spokesman Suhadi said that the vast
area involved, the difficult terrain and a lack of funds made it
virtually impossible for them to eradicate the problem of illegal
logging.

Forest exploitation

The Sasak Pekawai conflict is only one of a number of cases
confirming that the granting of these concessions is a
controversial and conflict-prone policy. Using the justification
of boosting regional income, many regents in West Kalimantan seem
bent on handing out concessions. It is a form of abuse of power
which will certainly encourage local officials to demand sopoi
(bribes) from timber businessmen to help them advance their
businesses.

Up to July of this year, Kapuas Hulu regency had processed 123
concessions for 123 cooperatives. Forty one of them have received
permits, 40 are still waiting for the permits and 42 are in the
process of submitting requests.

In Sanggau regency, three out of the 12 concessions issued by
regent Michael Andjioe are facing revocation due to breaches of
the regulations.

Over large areas of West Kalimantan, many companies have been
taking advantage of their already-expired concessions to continue
exploiting forests. They work in tandem with local businessmen in
paying all costs for permit and operating fees, including
providing access to the area, building mini sawmills, acquiring
tractors, chain saws and dump trucks plus other additional
expenses.

In return for the services rendered by them, the local
businessmen sell their timber to the major concessionaires or
have it processed at their sawmills. But it is the
concessionaires who export the timber.

On the West Kalimantan border with East Malaysia -- Sanggau,
Sambas, Bengkayang and Kapuas Hulu -- big businessmen from the
neighboring country are allegedly helping local businessmen in
selling the timber in Malaysia.

Lecturer in the school of forestry at Tanjung Pura University
in Pontianak, Gusti Hardiansyah, said rampant illegal logging
(including uncontrolled deforestation by villagers who then sell
the timber to concessionaires) was costing the country between Rp
10 billion and Rp 12 billion (US$1-1.3 million) per month. An
estimated 1.2 to 1.5 million cubic meters of logs are derived
annually from illegal logging in various areas including
productive forests, limited productive forests, conservation
areas, protected forests and national parks.

Arsen Rikson, a member of Commission III on agriculture,
forestry, transmigration and food affairs of the West Kalimantan
provincial legislative assembly, pointed out that regents' lack
of knowledge of forest conservation programs when they granted
forest concession rights for areas of greater than 100 hectares
was leading to accelerated deforestation throughout the country.

"This lack of knowledge has even made them make the wrong
decisions. They sometimes even grant concessions over
conservation forests."

He further said that both businessmen and local people
frequently abused their rights using heavy equipment such as
tractors and bulldozers in concession areas, which was against
the regulations.

To prevent further devastation both in productive and
conservation forests, all those involved, including the regents,
Ministry of Forestry, Ministry of Industry and Trade, and
provincial legislative councils, must review all of the
concessions that have been issued to date.

It is strongly recommended that regents temporarily stop
granting concessions before establishing the necessary
regulations governing them. Otherwise, the dangers of
environmental destruction -- including floods and drought -- will
be in store for us, with nothing left of our forests save for
lonely tree stumps.

The writer is chief editor of the Kalimantan Review, monthly
magazine published by the Pontianak Dayakology Institute.