Finland invited to cooperate in forest projects

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia has submitted several proposals to the Finnish government to conduct joint activities for forest development in this country, an official from the Ministry of Forestry says.

Toga Silitonga, head of the ministry's research and development agency, said over the weekend that before the projects can be implemented, they would require approval from European Union conferences.

"The joint projects will be presented by the Finnish delegation at the EU conferences," Toga was quoted by Antara as saying after closing the fifth Indonesia-Finland joint workshop on forestry and industrial forestry here.

He said the proposed projects included the marketing of new forest products, development of the pulp industry, utilization of wood wastes, establishment of a pulp and paper training center and studies on socioeconomic aspects of forestry development.

The project on waste utilization, he said, was particularly important because excess wood from wood-based industries in Indonesia is usually burnt, forming thick hazes, which are said to be hazardous to both the environment and health.

Finland, on the other hand, is presently capable of building wood industries which dispose of a minimum amount of waste and industries which are capable of using the wastes for making other products.

Indonesia and Finland are currently conducting joint projects in developing seed plantations on peat moss areas, which are found extensively across Indonesia, Toga said.

The joint workshop, which took place last week, was attended by government officials of both countries, with Toga leading the Indonesian delegation.

The Finnish delegation, led by the director of Finland's Foreign Trade Association, Reino Gunn, also made a visit to the center for forestry training in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, last week.

During the workshop, Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry, Finland's Forestry and Agricultural Ministry and Finland's Foreign Trade Association agreed to continue the on-going projects and to create new ones.

The next workshop will be held in Finland in 1997.

Criticism

Finnish Ambassador Veli J. Ollikainen, who also attended the workshop's closing ceremony, admitted that criticism from the green society toward timber industries was not only a problem to Indonesia, but to Finland as well.

"The negative propaganda on forest destruction continues to occur throughout the world because of misunderstanding and a lack of information on the real conditions of tropical forests," Ollikainen was quoted by Antara as saying.

He pointed out that Indonesia, with one of the vastest tropical forests in the world, "has done the best that it can" to protect its forests.

As a major timber producer and owner of extensive forest industries, he said, Finland was often also the target of green campaigns.

According to the Ministry of Forestry, out of 144 million hectares of forests throughout the country, 30 million hectares (21 percent) is allocated as protected forests, 19 million hectares (13 percent) as nature reserves and national parks, 31 million hectares (22 percent) as limited production forests, 33 million hectares (23 percent) as regular production forests and 30 million hectares (21 percent) as convertible forests.

Aside from protected forests, nature reserves and national parks, other forests may be subject to either selected felling or clear cutting. (pwn)