Forest for sale or for exchange

JAKARTA (JP): Forests may now be stripped bare for other uses only if the developer converts a non-forested area that is at least three times larger into a forest.

Director General of Inventory and Forest Land Use Titus Sarijanto said yesterday that the Minister of Forestry had issued a decree (No. 55/1994) stipulating the requirement on Feb. 7.

Sarijanto said that the government may also give up its forests for the construction of public utilities such as dams, seaports, airports and military facilities with an exchange ratio of one for one.

Coordinator of the Indonesia NGO Network for Forest Conservation (Skephi) S. Indro Tjahjono, however, blasted the ruling, saying that it violates the basic principles of environmental science.

"How could you exchange a forest with all of its birds and other natural resources for another plot?" Indro said, adding that the decision contradicts the expressed intention of the ministry to definitely sustainably exploit Indonesia's forests.

Sarijanto said plots for strategic projects such as industrial estates and cement factories may use forests on an exchange rate of one to two.

"It means one hectare of forest should be exchanged with two- hectare plot," he said, adding that the ministry only permits the conversion of production forests.

According to him, the government will set up a provisional team with representatives from a number of ministries to evaluate any proposal about forest conversion.

The Indonesian government defines its forests in four main categories: 33 million hectares of production forest, 31.3 million hectares of limited production forest, 30.70 million hectares of protected forest and 18.8 million hectares of conservation forests (wild life reserves and national parks).

According to the government system, of the 113.8 million hectares of forested area only 92.4 million hectares have real forests.

Indro said that prior to the issuance of the decree, the government was already quietly using the method it ratifies.

Citing some examples, he pointed to the real estate projects of Pantai Indah Kapuk in North Jakarta and Gunung Pongkor in Bogor, West Java, which are owned respectively by the Ciputra Group and the Salim Group.

According to him, in both cases the conglomerates exchanged the ecologically significant plots for less strategic ones in other regions.(09)