EU committed to protecting forests in Indonesia: Envoy

EU committed to protecting forests in Indonesia: Envoy

Veeramalla Anjaiah, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The 25-member European Union (EU), through its executive arm, the
European Commission (EC), is committed to protecting Indonesian
forests by actively supporting the Indonesian government's
efforts to fight against illegal logging and the associated
illegal timber trade, the head of the EC delegation to Indonesia
said in Jakarta.

Ambassador Jean Breteche, an experienced career diplomat, was
responding to a news item in The Jakarta Post (Oct. 23, 2005)
titled "EU destroying major forests of poor countries: WWF".

The news item, which was based on a report by conservation
group WWF, alleged that EU countries Britain, Finland, Germany,
France, Italy and the Netherlands were helping destroy forests in
poorer countries, including Indonesia, through massive imports of
illegal timber.

Breteche criticized the WWF for making serious allegations
against his organization.

"The comment contained in the article is highly critical and
one-sided. It is not true what the article (WWF report) says
about the EU," Breteche, the 63-year-old French national, told
the Post during an interview on Tuesday at his office.

The EC, according to Breteche, has been taking the issue of
illegal logging very seriously.

"In fact, the EC has just adopted a regulation that will give
it powers to prevent the importation of timber from unlicensed
sources as part of its Forest Law Enforcement Governance and
Trade Action Plan (FLEGT)," he said.

FLEGT is the EU's response to the problem of illegal logging
and the associated trade and is aimed at combating illegal
logging, excluding illegal timber from the EU market and
promoting the use of legal timber.

Breteche said the new regulation would allow his office to
negotiate a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with Indonesia
that would provide a framework for a licensing mechanism to
jointly curb illegal logging.

"I believe that we now have the opportunity to take decisive
action on this issue and show that the European Union takes
seriously its responsibilities to prevent timber and timber
products from illegal sources entering the Union," he said.

Breteche has also questioned the work of the WWF in Indonesia.

"The EC has provided funds to the WWF to fight against illegal
logging. But the effectiveness of the work undertaken by the WWF
would seem to be called into question by the continued problem of
illegal logging and the associated trade," Breteche said.

Meanwhile, the EC's program manager for natural resources in
Indonesia, Vernon Copeland, said the EC had been providing grants
to Indonesia through the EC-Indonesia Forest Program (ECIFP) to
help support the policies of the Indonesian government since
1990.

"Among the notable successes of the ECIFP are the nine-year,
US$40 million Leuser Development Program that has ensured the
sustainability of the Leuser ecosystem in Aceh and North
Sumatra," Copeland said.

Breteche said his office had so far provided more than 130
million euros (over $150 million) to Indonesia to protect the
forests from illegal logging.

"Currently, the EC has a 15 million euros ($17 million) budget
to support 16 projects, which are aimed at promoting the
participation of civil society in the sustainable management of
natural resources and the fight against illegal logging,"
Breteche said. "How come the WWF says the EU is destroying
forests in Indonesia?"

Not only the EC, but also its member countries are playing an
invaluable role in the protection and sustainable management of
Indonesia's forests and the livelihoods of the people who depend
upon them.

Some fifty million indigenous people live in and depend on
Indonesia's forests, which constitute about 10 percent of the
world's remaining tropical forests -- second only to Brazil.

"Britain, for example, has started a 25 million pound sterling
(US$45 million) Multistakeholder Forestry Program. It is
providing grants and a support framework for Indonesian civil
society and government to improve the conditions for forest
policy reform," Breteche said.

Germany, Spain, France, Denmark and the Netherlands have also
similar programs to protect Indonesia's forests, he added.

Due to illegal logging and forest fires (many deliberately lit
for the purpose of clearing land for plantations), Indonesia has
been losing 2 million hectares of forest every year. The forest
cover fell from 162 million hectares in 1950 to 86 million
hectares in 2004.