Govt steps up measures against illegal logging

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government would attempt to step up measures to curb illegal logging activities in the country by intensifying its domestic and overseas campaigns and conducting a series of operations, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

I Made Subadia, director general of forest protection and natural conservation at the Ministry of Forestry said he was optimistic that the measures would drastically reduce illegal logging.

"These efforts are very important to curb illegal logging, a chronic problem in the country," he told The Jakarta Post.

Made said more local campaigns were necessary to prevent provincial governments from arbitrarily issuing licenses for companies to carry out logging, which was against the law.

Several local governments started issuing forest concession licenses since the implementation of regional autonomy last year as part of efforts to boost their revenues. Some have revoked the licenses.

Domestic campaigns were also important to encourage people living around forests to fight illegal logging, which would only hurt them in the long run, he added.

According to him, the local campaigns must be accompanied by an overseas campaign to combat the trade of illegal logs.

"We will try to reach deals with more countries so that they will not buy timber from illegal sources in Indonesia," he said.

Indonesia has secured important cooperation agreements with 12 countries, mostly European countries, and eight global organizations to curb illegal logging and forest fires.

Citing an example, Made said a cooperation agreement with China earlier this year succeeded in reducing China's import of illegal logs from Indonesia.

China has decided to meet its demand for logs from Siberia, he added.

Made said his ministry would also conduct more operations this year, in cooperation with the National Police and the Navy, to curb log smuggling.

"With more operations, we will provide a shock therapy for the perpetrators of illegal logging to stop their activities, otherwise they will be sent to jail," he suggested.

He also said his ministry had requested that President Megawati Soekarnoputri set up a special agency to cope with illegal logging, forest fires and endangered species.

The special agency would comprise several ministries, the customs office, the police and the military, he said.

"This special agency will overcome bureaucratic procedures in combating illegal logging and other forest-related problems," he said.

This agency will be provided with an on-call budget that will enable it to move quickly such as carrying out necessary operations, he said.

Over 1,200 perpetrators of illegal logging were arrested last year during a special operation with National Police, code named Wanalaga.

In addition, 57 vessels were confiscated during operations by the Navy, code named Wanabahari.

Made said his ministry also planned to lower the allocation of concession areas to some 6.9 million cubic meters next year from over 12 million cubic meters this year.

"Call it a soft moratorium. It's not possible to suddenly have a total logging moratorium as wood-based firms can not just stop investing like that," he said.

Made asked the companies, such as pulp and paper mills, to start considering the import of logs from other countries including Australia.

According to the office of the state minister of research and technology, Indonesia is the second largest wood exporter in the world after Brazil, but 70 percent of that timber comes from illegal logging.