Govt to raise logging quota 30%

Govt to raise logging quota 30%

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The country's ailing forestry-based industries are to get a boost,
with the government promising to increase the logging quota next
year in order to satisfy the local industry's production capacity
and help create jobs.

Minister of Forestry Malam Sambat Kaban told The Jakarta Post
recently that the ministry was planning to expand the quota by
around 30 percent to 11 million cubic meters from the 8.4 million
cubic meters currently allowed.

"We haven't come up with an exact policy on this (quota) yet.
However, we estimate that the quota could be increased by around
30 percent based on the growth of trees in our industrial timber
plantations," said Kaban.

The quota will include some 8.1 million cubic meters of timber
felled from natural forests, with the remaining 2.9 million cubic
meters coming from industrial plantations.

Kaban said the rise in the quota was aimed at revitalizing the
country's forestry-based industries, which it is hoped will
contribute foreign exchange earnings of up to US$8 billion next
year from a projected $5 billion this year.

The ministry also hopes to collect more taxes from the
industry and from royalties on timber sales, which will then be
put toward forest rehabilitation .

The plan is likely to spark protests from environmentalists.

Kaban, who is also the chairman of the Moon and Crescent Party
(PBB), argued that reducing the logging quota was not the answer
to curbing illegal logging as the low quota had prompted most
forestry-based companies to seek illegal timber to keep their
operations running.

"As I have repeated several times, reducing the logging quota
is not a wise way of curbing illegal logging," he said.

The great discrepancy between demand and availability of
timber under the quota has been cited as a key contributor to
widespread illegal logging across the country.

At present, the forestry-based industry has an installed
capacity of about 42 million cubic meters per year, but the
industry is flooded with illegal timber sourced from already
depleted natural forests.

Kaban, however, pledged that he would force forestry-based
companies that are underperforming to merge or to sell their
shares to healthier companies in order to maximize the use of
their forestry concessions.

"The rise in the quota will also be followed by a new
regulatory package issued by the ministry, which will consist of
efforts to sustain natural forests and make the industry more
efficient," he said.