Law enforcement weak, forest destruction worsens: WWF

Law enforcement weak, forest destruction worsens: WWF

A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post,Jakarta

Heightened illegal logging activities and poor law enforcement
worsened forest destruction across the country in 2003, a noted
non-governmental organization said in its year-end review on
Monday.

"Forest destruction has worsened if we compare it with last
year," World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Indonesia senior policy
advisor Agus Setyarso announced at a press conference.

Due to rampant illegal logging and ineffective legal action,
Agus said, Sumatra has no more pristine forests, while Kalimantan
and Papua will encounter a similar experience in the next three
to four years.

"Among hundreds of forestry crimes reported to police this
year, less than 50 cases were considered worth investigating. We
predict less than 50 cases will be brought to court," he said.

According to Agus, a former lecturer at Gadjah Mada
University's School of Forestry, forest destruction reaches 3.6
million hectares annually.

As of 2002, at least 23 million hectares of the country's 140
million hectares of forests had been destroyed.

He also said that local law enforcers and administration
officials were under the control of businessmen involved in
illegal logging, making it impossible for authorities to deal
firmly with illegal loggers.

Besides involving state officials such as regents, police and
prosecutors, Agus said, illegal loggers, locally called cukong,
also hire local people to give the impression that their business
benefits local people.

"Based on our latest study, the people become poorer. They
change their job from a land manager to just a worker for illegal
logging," Agus said.

Agus revealed that local people who in the past could find
logs three kilometers from their homes now had to walk about 10
kilometers.

He said that in many areas, businessmen engaged in illegal
logging created new social problems despite the fact that they
provided basic needs for their workers. One such problem is the
appearance of brothels.

"Nature has reacted to this severe situation with several
disasters such as massive flooding and landslides. Flooding has
occurred in places that never saw floods in the past," Agus said.

To wage war against illegal logging, Agus suggested a
cooperation between environmental non-governmental organizations
and the government to strengthen law enforcement.

He demanded the government take firm and fair legal action
against administration elements found protecting illegal logging,
to prevent more damage in the years to come.

WWF Indonesia's Global Development Alliance Manager Anwar
supported the importance of cooperation among various
institutions to fight illegal logging.

Anwar claimed that his organization had set up an alliance
with international buyers and local producers to avoid the use of
illegal logs.

"Last year, we delisted about 200 buyers among 800 buyers who
were found buying products that used illegal logs. We hope in the
future, the number of buyers and producers using legal logs will
increase," he said.

Last month, the Office of the State Minister of the
Environment released a report titled The Indonesia State of
Environment Report 2002 which shows the continuous damage to the
environment.

The report, which was financed by the United Nations
Environmental Program (UNEP), reveals, among other things, the
increasing area of critical land as a result of the swelling
population, rampant forest fires and illegal logging which cannot
be addressed properly because of the complexity of the problem
stemming from the extensive number of involved parties.