Law enforcement needed to save forests: Soeharto

Law enforcement needed to save forests: Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto pledged yesterday that the government would continue to discipline negligent forest concessionaires.

Speaking to members of the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development at Merdeka Palace, Soeharto acknowledged that law enforcement was the only way to protect forests.

Stricter law enforcement could help save the country's forests from rampant exploitation by irresponsible people, he said.

"Although logging is presently done quite well, the poor discipline of forest concession-holders -- who cut more than they are allowed or steal timber from outside their concession areas -- is often still a threat to the forests."

Soeharto, who spoke without a prepared text, said the Indonesian government has been handing out forest concessions to private sector businesses since the 1970s, allowing them to manage some 30 million hectares of the country's forests designated for production.

Soeharto was accompanied by State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja and a former minister of environment and population, Emil Salim, who is also Indonesia's representative on the commission.

Members of the commission included representatives from India, South Korea, Papua New Guinea, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia and Canada.

Soeharto told the commission that disciplinary actions taken by the Indonesian government would include the revocation of concessions and the transferal of operations to other more capable companies, including state-owned firms.

Soeharto said the penalties would comply with Indonesia's 1945 Constitution, which states that natural resources must be used for the maximum benefit of the people.

"We develop forests without destroying, because the natural resources must be used by future generations," he said.

The government claims the country presently has 144 million hectares of forest land, of which 30 million hectares (21 percent) are designated as protection forests (for water and soil protection); 19 million hectares (13 percent) as nature reserves and national parks (for nature preservation and genetic conservation); 31 million hectares (22 percent) as limited production forests; 33 million hectares (23 percent) as regular production forests; and 30 million hectares (21 percent) as convertible forests.

The government classifies protection forests, nature reserves and national parks as totally protected areas and off limits to felling. (pwn)

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