Forests predicted to vanish within five years Illegal logging pushes forest on verge of collapse Illegal logging marks end of Indonesia's forests

Dadan Wijaksana The Jakarta Post Jakarta

As in previous years, the government has failed to curb rampant illegal logging practices.

There is little on-the-ground evidence, if any, that indicates that deforestation, which had caused trillions of rupiah in losses, has lessened this year.

With the destruction of forests by illegal logging reaching close to 2 million hectares each year, few would deny that the country's forestry sector is now on the brink of collapse.

Environmentalists say illegal logging has destroyed some 60 million cubic meters of forest each year. With an average price of Rp 500 thousand per meter cubic, the state has been losing some Rp 30 trillion (US$3 billion) in revenue each year.

"This is based on a minimum calculation. Many believe the number is much higher than that," Adiwarsita Adinegoro, chairman of the Indonesian Forest Industrialists Association (APHI), said recently.

Latest government data indicates Indonesia has lost more than 75 percent of its natural forests over the past few decades, leaving just 60 million hectares today.

Local environmentalists predict that forests in Sumatra will vanish by 2005 with forests in Kalimantan following suit five years later if the government fails to halt illegal logging immediately.

The government's failures in applying and socializing the sustainable forest management concept is seen to have contributed to the mushrooming practices of illegal logging.

"If there is no immediate action taken by the government, our forests that were once something that we were proud of, will no longer exist," Ruslan Taha, an East Kalimantan-based non- governmental organization activist, said.

Analysts pointed out the three main reasons behind the failure to curb the illegal logging, including the high demand from the forestry industry, some "damaging" regulations issued by regional administrations and the lack of law enforcement.

Data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade said the Indonesian forestry industry used 100 million cubic meters of timber each year, while the country's forests supply only around 22 million cubic meters of timber per year. Timber imports are estimated to be equal to the local supply.

This has raised suspicion that the country's forestry industry has received about half of its raw material from illegal loggers.

Adding to the problems are several regulations issued by regional administrations that are believed to have accelerated the rapid depletion of the country's forests.

East Kalimantan deputy governor Chaidir Hafied admitted that several regional rulings had played a role in destroying the forests' sustainability.

He took for an example the ruling implemented in many regencies across Kalimantan, which allows locals to use up to 100 hectares of surrounding forest per village. The ruling was issued two years ago with the aim of providing locals greater access to benefits from nearby forests.

The ruling, according to Chaidir, had often been used by local people and companies to justify their excessive logging activities.

"Facts show that they logged much more than the allowed 100 hectare limit," he told a small number of reporters in the East Kalimantan town of Samarinda last month.

Chaidir claimed to have ordered all regencies in his province to revoke the ruling. "However, hiding behind the regional autonomy law, most of them refused to obey my order."

The Autonomy Law No. 22/1999 gives rights for local administrations to manage their respective economic affairs.

Forestry analyst Transtoto Handhadari said that the regency rulings had created not only damage to the ecosystem but had also downgraded the value of the woods as the forest's primary product.

The lack of law enforcement by the government has also given rise to the illegal logging.

As a matter of fact, the government has made some efforts to protect the country's forests.

In February 2000, it committed itself to reform-oriented action supporting sustainable management of forest resources, which included, among other things, a statement urging action to control illegal logging.

The government also set up the Interdepartmental Committee on Forestry (IDCF) with one of its aims to develop the National Forest Program.

But, the World Bank said the committee was far from effective as all the activities to improve forest management had been conducted solely by the Ministry of Forestry

In October 2001, the ministers of industry and trade and forestry issued a joint decree putting in place a ban on export of logs for wood chips. Export of logs had been partly blamed for illegal logging.

Before that, in April 2001, the government issued a decree banning the sale of ramin and identified it as a species temporarily banned from being exported from Indonesia. However, it was not being effectively enforced as ramin from Indonesia was found being unloaded in Singapore.

"Generally, the results are still regarded as too little to make any difference to Indonesia's forests, where conditions are rapidly worsening," the World Bank said in its brief report presented during the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) in Jakarta early November.

And this has drawn critics from the international community.

During the CGI meeting, the European Union (EU), which is a member of the group, furiously lambasted Indonesia for its failure to enforce a sustainable forest management structure.

However, Belgium Ambassador Luk Darras acknowledged the complexity of the problem, saying that it was something that the Ministry of Forestry could not deal with alone.

"The existing illegal logging problems cannot be resolved by the Forestry Ministry all by itself. An inter-departmental approach should be applied here," Darras said during a visit to the Berau Forest Management Project (BFMP) in East Kalimantan last month.

He added the resolution of the problem should include the Department of Justice, National Police, local authorities and all forest stakeholders, working together in combating illegal logging.

Belgium currently holds the EU presidency.