EU urged to reject KL wood products
EU urged to reject KL wood products
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Minister of Forestry Muhammad Prakosa is urging the European
Union (EU) to reject timber products from Malaysia, saying they
are mostly made of illegally cut logs collected from Indonesia's
natural forests.
"We are proposing that the EU reject timber products from
Malaysia as there are indications that most of them are made of
logs taken from illicit sources," said Prakosa on the sidelines
of a media gathering on Tuesday.
He explained that currently the Indonesian government and the
EU representative in Jakarta were discussing joint measures aimed
at preserving Indonesia's severely damaged natural forests.
During the talks, Indonesia had proposed an article to be
incorporated in the agreement, insisting that EU countries should
screen all timber products from Malaysia and reject those
suspected of using illegally cut logs from Indonesia, he said.
"EU is considering our proposal. It is likely to be approved,"
he said adding that the agreement was expected to be signed at
the end of this year.
Last June, the Indonesian government managed to bring Japan to
the negotiating table to sign a similar agreement.
Under the agreement, Japan agreed to reject timber products
from Malaysia, Singapore and China, using Indonesian trees as raw
materials.
Prakosa has frequently lashed out at Singapore, Malaysia and
China for taking most of the illegally cut logs smuggled out of
Indonesia.
Prakosa had planned to visit the countries to talk with the
countries' governments on possible solutions, however, he
recently dropped the plan.
"There will be no bilateral talks with Malaysia and Singapore
since they are uncooperative. To date, both countries consider
they have the right to legally use the smuggled logs, and blame
Indonesia for its lack of preventative efforts.
"So what we will do instead is to approach buyer countries to
reject their products," he said.
Illegal logging has become one of the country's major problems
as the practice has caused considerable damage to Indonesia's
rain forests and the quality of the environment in general.
In many areas, illegal logging also involved government
officials and military personnel.
According to environmentalists, illegal logging produces some
50.7 million cubic meters of timber annually, resulting in
financial losses to the state of at least Rp 30.42 trillion
(US$3.37 billion).
They said at least 1.45 million hectares of the country's
forest were lost annually due to logging. Legal logging is
conducted only on 0.67 million of the total acreage.