Forests need to breathe

Forests need to breathe

An old issue has emerged again from Kuta, Bali. President
Megawati Soekarnoputri said when she opened a working conference
of the Association of Indonesian Forest Concessionaries (APHI) in
Kuta recently that forest exploitation should be discontinued to
give opportunity to the forest to breathe.

The government has observed forest over-exploitation in
Indonesia. Deforestation resulting from over-exploitation during
the 32-year New Order period reached 43 million hectares, meaning
that forest destruction in Indonesia averaged 1.6 million ha
every year.

If the whole damaged forests consist of production forests and
if the limitation of logging to not more than 20 cu.m. per ha is
taken into account, our forests have lost some 32 million cu.m.
of logs annually.

Hopefully, the President's call for the discontinuation of
forest exploitation will be followed by a concrete step, instead
of merely piling up applications for the extension of forest
concessions on the desk of the forestry minister or merely
expanding the involvement of those living near the forest in
coping with illegal logging.

The most important thing is drawing up a concept of
sustainable forest development by ensuring the balance between
logging and forest replanting, no matter who occupies the post of
forestry minister.

-- Business Indonesia, Jakarta