Minister says reforestation pledge will achieves little

Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, South Sulawesi

As Indonesia's priceless rainforests continue to disappear at alarming rates, 15 provinces signed an agreement in the South Sulawesi town of Malino to replant around 300,000 hectares of barren land.

However, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla, speaking at the ceremony, held out little hope it would actually achieve anything.

The Malino Pledge, was signed at the annual meeting of the National Movement for Land and Forest Rehabilitation (GNRHL), which concluded Friday.

Minister of Forestry M. Prakosa also addressed the meeting.

But several other Cabinet members, including Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno and Minister of the Environment Nabiel Makarim, failed to attend for unspecified reasons, while most governors only sent representatives.

Unlike previous agreements signed in the mountainous resort, Yusuf expressed pessimism the agreement would be effective.

He said regional administrations were not serious about the reforestation program as only South Sulawesi Governor Amien Syam and West Sumatra Governor Zainal Bakar attended.

Kalla recalled two previous agreements signed in Malino, which he organized successfully to end the bloody sectarian conflicts in the Central Sulawesi regency of Poso and in Maluku in Dec. 21, 2001 and Feb. 11, 2002 respectively.

He warned that the remaining forest areas would become desserts within 100 years unless reforestation programs were implemented immediately, as illegal logging was still rampant.

Due to illegal logging, Indonesia, once renowned for its large tropical forests, loses up to 2 million hectares of forests annually. Barren or deforested areas now total 56 million hectares across the country.

Prakosa shared Kalla's opinion that the nation had failed to stop the widespread illegal logging.

Both ministers could not say why.

The Indonesian Military, National Police and big businesses in collusions with government figures or authorities are known to be responsible.

Many of the logs are sold to neighboring countries such as Malaysia or Singapore for reexport to South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China, the United States and Europe who do little to stem the flow.

Yusuf said Indonesia would continue suffering from annual natural disasters resulting from deforestation.

"Numerous natural disasters will continue to befall the country depending on the season. Water crisis, drought and harvest failure have affected the people during the dry season while floods and many diseases have claimed lives in the rainy season and all these disasters have a lot to do with the deteriorating environment. We have to pay a high price."

Prakosa said that the government would carry out reforestation in phases.

He said that in the first year in 2002, the government had replanted 300,000 hectares of barren land and had raised it to 500,000 hectares this year.

"When the five-year program ends in 2007, a total of 3 million hectares of wasteland across the country will be reforested," Prakosa said.

He said the government had allocated Rp 15 trillion (US$1.7 million) for the five-year program.