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)