Deforestation accelerated as regions issue concession

Deforestation accelerated as regions issue concession

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Deforestation of the country's already much-depleted natural
forests has accelerated as local administrations are currently in
a race to give businesspeople hundreds of timber concession
licenses in order to help fill the regions' coffers.

The Ministry of Forestry estimated that the "illegal" licenses
granted by the regencies over the past two years covered thus far
an estimated area of 2 million hectares (m ha).

Director of forest exploitation at the Ministry of Forestry
Lumisu Mangiwa said the problem had become the subject of dispute
between the ministry and local administrations as the latter
refused to comply, claiming their right over the use of forests.

"Issuance of the licenses has become uncontrollable. Due to
the autonomy law, local administrations now reject all orders and
regulations made by the central government," Lumisu told The
Jakarta Post last week.

The ministry, said Lumisu, had declared that any timber
resulting from such concessions was illegal.

According to Lumisu, the Ministry of Forestry had banned the
issuance of forest concession licenses since 1999 in order to
rehabilitate destroyed natural forests, as deforestation had
affected 40.26 m ha of the country's 120 m ha of natural forest.

Lumisu's statement has further highlighted the tough challenge
faced by Indonesia, both the government and its citizens, in its
struggle to protect its forests and the complexity of the causes
behind rapid deforestation.

The statement came just days after donor countries from the
Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) criticized Indonesia's
failure to protect its forests.

The CGI working group on forestry, in its statement issued
during the CGI meeting early last week in Bali, attributed the
failure to the lack of integrated efforts by related government
agencies to deal with the problem.

Prior to the CGI meeting, a string of reports had been
released by a number of international agencies about rapid
deforestation in Indonesia, including an embarrassing report by
the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (IEA), which
warned about the surge of illegal logging in Indonesia and
accused the military and police of involvement in the illegal
practice.

Illegal timber was exported to Malaysia, China, Vietnam and
India at a rate of 10 million cubic meters per year, resulting in
Rp 7.2 trillion-worth of annual losses to the country, according
to the report.

Apart from illegal loggers, Lumisu said, forest concession-
holders were the main culprits behind deforestation. Some 43
percent of the country's forest concession areas were either in a
critical state or no longer productive.

Lumisu said the ministry was powerless to deal with the
regions's forest authorities that issued forest concession
licenses as they were not subordinate to the ministry.

He said the ministry had sent its officials several times to
stop logging by businesses that had gained licenses from the
regencies. However, they were forced to flee by hoodlums hired by
the regents.

The ministry has, several times, asked the National Police and
the Attorney General's Office to curb the illegal practice, but
the measures taken by both agencies, if any, have thus far borne
no results.