Finland invited to cooperate in forest projects

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)