Ecolabeling on trial in 14 forest concessions

Ecolabeling on trial in 14 forest concessions

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Ecolabeling Agency has run
ecolabeling trials on tropical wood from 14 forest concessions,
the agency's chairman Emil Salim said yesterday.

Emil said the trials had been done in two stages: ecolabeling
was applied to three concessions in stage one; and to the other
11 concessions in stage two.

The concessionaires subjected to the first stage of the trials
were PT Kulim Company, PT ITCI and PT Dwima Jaya Utama. Among the
concessionaires assessed in the second stage were PT Melapi
Timber, state-owned PT Inhutani II through its Malinau unit, PT
Kiani Lestari, PT Sumalindo and PT Mujur Timber.

Emil said the trial's results were "quite good" on average.
But he did not say how the individual concessions had performed.

The agency was established last year to promote sustainable
forest management. The trials were conducted to design and
establish standard ecolabeling procedures for selected
concessions.

The agency assessed the sustainability of the 14 concessions
to determine whether their concessionaires were fit to go public.

The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) -- which
groups consumer and producer countries -- has stipulated that
from the year 2000 ecolabeling would become a prerequisite for
producers of tropical timber to gain access to markets in some
countries.

According to earlier reports, at least 19 countries have been
using ecolabeling since 1977. These country's include members of
the European Union, Canada, Japan, Scandinavian countries, the
United States, New Zealand, Australia, India, South Korea,
Singapore, Croatia, Taiwan and Israel.

Emil said yesterday that ecolabeling would be applied for the
concessionaires' own good because without ecolabels their
products would be hard to sell overseas.

He said that many concessionaires had asked to be assessed
this year by the ecolabeling agency.

He said that representatives from the U.S. and EU would
consult the agency in March about its progress.

Also in March, the agency is scheduled to meet representatives
of the Forest Steward Council, an international non-governmental
organization. The agency is to explain at this meeting how its
assessments were made and the process for a concession to gain an
ecolabel.

Emil said the agency was scheduled to have completed its
assessment concept and submitted it by March to the minister of
forestry for approval.

He said that by the end of next month, the agency was expected
to have reached a draft agreement with the forestry minister on
the concept. The agency was expected to officially start its
assessments by April 1.

Indonesia and Malaysia last year expressed concern over the
ecolabeling requirement which was applied only to tropical
forest-products.

Both countries considered the ITTO ecolabeling ruling unfair
because it did not apply to non-tropical timber.

Indonesia and Malaysia said they would insist that the
ecolabeling ruling be imposed on non-tropical timber products,
which include timber from boreal and temperate forests. (pwn)