Forests 'endangered' by regional autonomy

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's forestry resources could be endangered, with all its dire consequences, when regional administrations gain more power from the central government starting next year, Minister of Forestry Nurmahmudi Ismail warns.

"There has to be a consensus that forestry management cannot be separated from the ecosystem management and that it is part of the hydrology system," Nurmahmudi said on Thursday.

"The implementation of the regional autonomy law in the forestry sector has not reflected the commitment to the principle of sustainable forestry management.

"The trend toward forest degradation is increasing," he said.

"Conditions will worsen if regional administrations treat the forests as a source of revenue," he added.

The minister, in a press briefing to review the outgoing year, was referring to the move to decentralize authorities from the central to the regional administration starting Jan. 1 under the new regional autonomy law.

With the limited budget allocation from the central government, officials in Jakarta are concerned that the regions would exploit their natural resources arbitrarily, including forestry resources, to bolster their income locally.

In spite of these concerns, Nurmahmudi said the government was fully committed to implementing the regional autonomy policy.

The Ministry of Forestry, he added, has drafted eight government regulations and 36 ministerial decrees to establish standards, criteria, norms and procedures to be used by regions as reference in carrying out sustainable forest management.

Citing the result of a recent official survey, Nurmahmudi said some 56 million hectares forests have been found to be either damaged or are in a critical condition.

These include national parks and conservation forests as well as mangrove forests, he said.

The damage was caused mainly by indiscriminate felling, wild fires, and other forms of exploitation of the forests.

The ministry predicted around Rp 250 trillion ($26.3 billion) was required in order to rehabilitate the damaged forests.

Nurmahmudi also vowed to establish clean government within his ministry.

"We are investigating 125 officials from the Ministry of Forestry and Perum Perhutani (state-owned forestry company) over alleged involvement in illegal logging," he said.

Suripto, the ministry secretary-general, said those investigated were senior officials. The cases of 15 of these officials had already been referred to the police, he added. (03)