Japan 'to intensify efforts' to combat illegal timber trade

As the world's largest timber importing country, lots of illegally felled trees from Indonesia allegedly end up in Japan. In order to prevent the trade of illegal timber or other wood- based products, action from timber-buying countries, such as Japan is urgently needed.

The Jakarta Post's Rendi A. Witular spoke with Japan's senior vice minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, Ichiro Ichikawa, about Japan's policies intended to prevent the trade of illegal timber from Indonesia. The discussion was on the sidelines of a recent workshop held by the Asian Forest Partnership (AFP) in Yogyakarta. Below are excerpts.

Question: What is Japan's policy when it comes to preventing trade of illegally felled timber?

Answer: Japan has primarily adopted two policies to prevent the trade of illegal timber and wood-based products. The first policy is based on the fact that Japan is the main importer of forestry products, while the second policy is based on needs for the producing countries, such as Indonesia, to adopt sustainable forest management.

As the largest consumer of forestry products, Japan has launched an intensive campaign on the need to prevent the use of illegally felled timber and its derivative products by Japanese companies and individuals. We expect with these kinds of efforts, Japanese consumers will become more conscious (of the problem) and widely reject illegal products.

On the international front, Japan considers the illegal timber problems a global one that needs to be solved together, since it involves a large number of businesses between the importing and producing countries. Trade of illegal timber would not be rampant if there was no demand. What happens now is that demand has outnumbered supply, fueling illegal logging in the producing countries.

During the G-8 summit in 2000, there was an initiative for developed countries to seriously handle the problems since it concerns not only the environment of a certain country but also the overall environment of the world. Based on the initiative, Japan has intensified its support to assist producing countries, especially in Asia, to resolve the problems by providing funds and skills. The problems cannot be resolved unless there is a cooperation and commitment between nations.

Illegal logging in Indonesia cannot be fully contained unless there is a commitment from the importing countries to reject such products.

Do you plan to apply a certification system to track the legality of forestry products that flow to Japan?

In principal, Japanese consumers are committed to rejecting such products. At present, we have not applied such a system yet, but I can assure you that in the long run, we will urge consumers to require a certification of forest products in order to track and ensure their legality. Now, we have difficulty in identifying whether the forest products that flow to Japan are legal or illegal.

If you really adopt such system, will there be any concern by Japanese companies, since it will eventually harm some industries in Japan that rely heavily of forests products?

Such worries will only be temporary. It is just a short-term problem of a few industries. We have to look at the wider scope; this is a long-term problem of the world and for the sake of the global community.

Will Japan try to launch an initiative to adopt a common customs procedure for the export and import of forestry products between producing and consuming countries?

At present, we are still studying such a possibility since it relates to the regulations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). We have to ensure that such a plan will not disrupt international trade and cause trade barriers. For sure, we plan to adopt a policy that will not disrupt forest-related industry in Japan, but at the same time help create a sustainable forest management in the producing countries and maintain the global environment.

Import duties for forest products in Japan are currently at 2.5 percent, the lowest compared to other developed countries.

In the upcoming AFP meeting in December, will Japan propose any initiative to globally define the meaning of illegal forest products or timber? With such a definition, importing countries are expected to have a common understanding to define and reject such products.

At present, Japan has declared forestry products illegal if there is an official announcement from the producing countries that the products are indeed illegal. We just follow the request of other countries to declare such products illegal.

However, we need a common definition between producing and consuming countries on what is illegal and legal. That is why we expect in the upcoming AFP forum, there will be generally accepted terms on legality or illegality of forests products.