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