LEI ready to provide ecolabeling services
LEI ready to provide ecolabeling services
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Ecolabeling Agency (LEI) has
announced it is ready to assess and issue certifications to
Indonesian timber companies for environmentally sound practices.
LEI's chairman, Emil Salim, said yesterday the ecolabeling
agency, in cooperation with the Ministry of Forestry and the
Association of Indonesian Forest Concessionaires (APHI), had
completed the standardization of its ecolabeling procedures and
criteria.
"The three agencies discussed ecolabeling standardization and
came up with a harmonized formula which is based on sustainable
forest management," he said after signing an agreement between
the agency and the International Tropical Timber Organization
(ITTO).
He noted that the three agencies previously had different
ecolabeling standards.
The newly established Sustainable Forest Management
Certification System stipulates national standards for managing
forest concessions in a sustainable manner.
Timber companies found to have sustainable practices according
to the standards will receive a certification under the system.
LEI was established in 1996 to promote sustainable forest
management by assessing Indonesian timber company operations.
Timber companies or concessionaires are required to have
sustainable forest management practices and promote the economic
and social life of people living around their concessions in
order to receive an ecolabeling certification.
ITTO, which groups consumer and supplier countries, has
stipulated that from 2000, ecolabeling would become a
prerequisite for suppliers of tropical timber to gain access to
markets in some countries.
At least 19 countries have used ecolabeling since 1977. These
country's include members of the European Union, Canada, Japan,
Scandinavian countries, the United States, New Zealand,
Australia, India, South Korea, Singapore, Croatia, Taiwan and
Israel.
ITTO signed an agreement yesterday to provide a US$672,774
grant to LEI for a human resources training program for
ecolabeling assessments.
The Ministry of Forestry will also provide Rp 285 million
($30,000) for the LEI training program.
Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo said the
training program would produce professional experts which could
independently assess management practices of forest
concessionaires.
He said ecolabeling would benefit timber companies since it
was increasingly becoming a requirement before selling to
overseas buyers.
"Although ecolabeling is not compulsory for forest
concessionaires, they may not be able to access some foreign
markets without the certifications," he said.
He said ministry and APHI data showed that only 70 percent of
the country's 470 concessionaires were deemed prepared for the
implementation of ecolabeling in 2000.
Out of 76 concessionaires assessed last year, 13 were
"adequately prepared", 36 were "fairly prepared", 25 were "poorly
prepared" while two were "totally unprepared".
LEI has run ecolabeling trials on 14 of 70 proposed
concessionaires, including the giant PT Kiani Lestari, PT ITCI
and Sumalindo. The trial's results were "quite good" on average,
according to the minister. (gis)