Government cuts logging quota for 2005

Government cuts logging quota for 2005

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has decided to cut the logging quota by 5
percent next year as part of its effort to help protect the
nation's natural forests.

Ministry of Forestry spokesman Transtoto Handadhari said on
Thursday that the ministry had set the logging quota for 2005 at
5.45 million cubic meters, down from 5.74 million cubic meters
this year.

"The logging quota has been set to prevent the industry from
unchecked overexploitation of natural forests... It is expected
that with this quota, the country's timber supply will be
sustainable," he said in a press statement on Thursday.

Transtoto said the ministry's Directorate General of Forestry
Production Development would later determine an annual timber
volume quota for each province.

Minister of Forestry M. Prakosa has been trying to restructure
the forestry and related industries, which had enjoyed many
privileges previously under the New Order regime and exploited
the nation's forests to reap as much foreign exchange as
possible.

As part of its restructuring policy, the ministry has decided
to gradually lower the logging quota with an aim to restrict
harvesting to timber from industrial plantations. The logging
quota will be cut gradually and it is expected that in "several
years to come", the quota will be down to only 2 million cubic
meters per year.

The decision has sparked protests from industry players, who
claim the industry has a production capacity of 30-40 million
cubic meters per year.

Forestry-related companies are major export earners and last
year, contributed about US$4 billion in foreign exchange revenue.

The government has also urged the industry to import logs or
to procure them from industrial plantations to alleviate the
shortage in raw materials.

Timber from plantations can supply only about 20 percent of
domestic demand, most of which is taken from natural forests.

The government has also urged the industry to lower their
collective reserve capacity from 30 million to 20 million cubic
meters per year to cope with the declining supply of local raw
materials.

The great discrepancy between the timber demand and the
national logging quota has played a distinct role in the
unchecked illegal across the country. In addition, deforestation
destroys about 2.6 million hectares per year, threatening the
remaining 40 million hectares of natural forest.