Most forestry firms unprepared for ecolabeling
Most forestry firms unprepared for ecolabeling
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo said yesterday that an assessment of 61 forest concessionaires in Indonesia has concluded that only nine of them are considered "adequately prepared" to meet eco-labeling requirements.
Djamaludin told reporters after meeting with members of the Association of Indonesian Forest Concessionaires (APHI) that none of the 61 concessionaires, however, were categorized as "prepared" for eco-labeling.
Twenty-two concessionaires were categorized "satisfactorily prepared", 19 "inadequately prepared" and 11 "totally unprepared" to meet the eco-labeling requirements which will be applied globally starting in the year 2000.
He declined to mention the names of the concessionaires.
The 61 concessionaires were assessed as part of a pilot project introduced last year with an aim of identifying the indicators of sustainable forest management and preparing forest concessionaires to enter the eco-labeling era.
Eco-labeling will, in the next century, become a prerequisite for producers of tropical timber to gain access to markets in certain consumer countries.
The International Tropical Timber Organization said last year that Indonesia, Malaysia and Ghana were considered the most prepared tropical timber producers to meet the eco-labeling requirements.
Djamaludin said yesterday that the results of the assessment would not effect the status of a concessionaire, nor would it qualify a concessionaire for an eco-labeling certificate.
"It is only an indicator of whether or not a concessionaire will be ready to face an independent assessor (for eco-labeling purposes)," he said.
Djamaludin, in his speech to APHI's 175 members, yesterday reiterated that forest concessionaires would face serious problems in the future.
These included declining tree stocks from natural tropical forests, increasing business competition in the upcoming free trade era as well as the emergence of issues of indigenous peoples' rights and of widening socioeconomic gaps.
"Forest concessionaires must operate efficiently to win the global competition because in the future, the market will only be willing to accept cheap, good-quality wood coming from forests with environmentally sound management," he said.
Timber tycoon and APHI Chairman Mohammad (Bob) Hasan said yesterday that 14 experts and 107 assessors worked simultaneously for seven months to assess the 61 forest concessionaires. The assessment cost almost Rp 1 billion (US$434,782).
Since the early 1970s, when the government started awarding forest concessions to companies, the licenses of 111 concessions have been revoked due to poor forest management. Currently, 491 forest concessionaires operate in the country.
APHI executives said earlier this year that the association expected all its members to have been assessed for eco-labeling by the 1998/1999 period. (pwn)