EU blasts RI over poor forest management

EU blasts RI over poor forest management

Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Representatives of the European Union (EU) at the Consultative
Group on Indonesia (CGI) blasted Indonesia's poor capability of
enforcing sustainable forest management during its recent meeting
with the Indonesian government.

The EU, in a statement read out during the meeting last week,
said the Indonesian government had little on-the-ground evidence
of success in resolving the country's forestry crisis.

Despite the criticism, donor countries grouped in the forum
agreed to provide US$3.14 billion in loans to help the country's
cash-strapped budget.

Despite Ministry of Forestry efforts, the report said, illegal
logging had been steadily increasing, forest-based industry had
not started and policy initiatives toward sustainable forest
management had yet to be effectively implemented.

"Non-sustainable and illegal logging has led to a situation
where the costs resulting from the incidence of natural disaster,
such as landslides, flooding, sedimentation and loss of
biodiversity is by far more compared to the possible revenue
received from such non-sustainable practices," it said.

The EU also reported that development policies and illegal
practices throughout the 1980s and 1990s had resulted in the
rapid depletion of natural forests by approximately 1.7 million
hectares per year.

However, the EU acknowledged that the Indonesian government
faced a complex forestry problem that could not be dealt with by
the Ministry of Forestry alone.

The EU agreed that a collaborative approach was required to
resolve such issues.

The EU suggested that if the government wished to further
advance its commitment to developing sound and robust sustainable
forest management practices, a cross-sectoral approach had to be
part of the process.

"We therefore recommend the government adopt this approach and
seriously consider the revitalization of the Inter-Departmental
Committee on Forestry (IDCF) as the forum through which the
forestry crisis can be effectively addressed."

They advised that the committee should be tasked with priority
actions, including effective law enforcement to curb illegal
logging, restructuring forest-based industry to reduce demand on
remaining natural forests, and implementing policies that
strengthen responsible decentralization and secure land tenure
resource rights.

"As the plight of Indonesia's forests has become a major
concern to the international community, we look forward to
working with the government in overcoming these complex issues."

According to the Asian Development Bank's (ADB), Indonesian
forests produce between 33 million and 75 million cubic meters of
timber per year, while a sustainable yield is estimated at about
22 million cubic meters per year.