Logging causes losses of US$670m

PALANGKA RAYA, Central Kalimantan: Years of unchecked illegal logging, blamed for widespread forest destruction across the country, caused around US$670 million in losses to the state annually, a senior forestry official said on Monday.

Citing a report from the World Bank, head of the provincial forestry office Tuah Pahoe said the amount was simply the value of tax that should have been received by the government from loggers.

"What is more worrying for us is the fate of some 30 million people whose lives are directly and indirectly related to forest assets," he said.

Pahoe said his office would host a workshop in cooperation with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on Wednesday to find a way of reducing illegal logging in Central Kalimantan.

The workshop would feature the provincial governor as a keynote speaker and senior officers from the National Police Headquarters and Ministry of Forestry. Representatives from plantation companies would also participate.

Pahoe said that illegal logging had worsened during the current reform era and some 75 percent of wood circulated in Indonesia was expected to stem from illegal logging.--Antara