Govt treads tentatively in curbing forest misuse

Govt treads tentatively in curbing forest misuse

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is preparing a number of possible measures in
an attempt to curb the issuance of forest concessions and to
crack down on illegal loggers amid rising international
criticism, culminating last week when the largest donors
expressed outrage over the increased deforestation and the lack
of prevention.

As part of the actions, early next month, Minister of Forestry
M. Prakosa will have a tour of several "defiant" regencies in
Kalimantan, Sumatra and Papua, which continue to issue forest
concessions in violation of a central government regulation.

Prakosa will seek to convince the regents that aside from
violating the regulation, their actions were not good the
nation's forests, according to the ministry's spokesman Tachrir
Fathoni.

"The visit is aimed at bridging the gap between the ministry
and the local administrations in their interpretations of the
current forestry law and regulations," said Tachrir.

The ministry was hoping, through the persuasive approach, the
regents would stop issuing the licenses, Tachrir said.

As reported earlier, many regencies are continuing, at a very
fast pace, to give "certain people" hundreds of timber concession
licenses to earn as much income as possible before the government
decides it might actually enforce its own regulations. The
ministry issued the decree in 2001, declaring the sale of
concessions illegal.

The ministry's data shows that the licenses issued by the
regencies over the past two years covered an estimated total area
of over 2 million hectares.

The ministry claims to be powerless to control the "defiant"
regencies, because there is a distinct lack of support from an
enforcement standpoint.

Also next month, Tachrir said, the ministry would launch a
joint operation with the Army and the Navy to raid all sawmills
suspected of processing illegal logs.

The action was part of the agreement signed by the Indonesian
Military's (TNI) commander Endriartono Sutarto and Prakosa last
week to forge cooperation in cracking down on the rampant illegal
logging, which is reportedly a great source of revenue for the
police and military.

The operation, said Tachrir, would target "sensitive" areas in
Kalimantan and Papua, bordering Malaysia and Papua New Guinea,
which are notorious for illegal activities.

On top of that, Tachrir said, to boost coordination among the
governmental agencies in dealing with the forestry problem, the
government would soon issue a presidential decree which could
specifically address the illegal exploitation of the forests.

"The ministry has completed the draft of the decree and will
soon submit it to the President for approval," said Tachrir.

He added that the decree, which was expected to be issued
within the next few months, would contain a long-term action plan
to prevent illegal forest exploitation.

Illegal forest exploitation has reached an alarming level, to
the point that donor countries grouped in the Consultative Group
on Indonesia (CGI) as well as international organizations,
strongly criticized the government in its meeting last week in
Bali.

According to the ministry's data, Indonesia lost a total of
2.1 million hectares of natural forest last year, as against the
annual depletion rate of 1.6 million hectare five to ten years
ago.