No timber firms 'fully prepared' for ecolabeling

JAKARTA (JP): Only 26 of the 70 forest concessionaires assessed by the Indonesian Ecolabeling Agency since early 1996 are considered "adequately prepared" to meet ecolabeling requirements, a senior official said here yesterday.

Director General of Forest Utilization Harnanto H. Martosiswoyo said at a workshop, however, that none of the 70 concessionaires were categorized as "fully prepared" for ecolabeling.

He said the number of timber companies considered "adequately prepared" had significantly increased from only nine in October, last year.

"We are still working to promote those adequately prepared companies to be fully prepared this year. We are also still supervising the remaining 60 percent so they will be able to be categorized as adequately prepared this year," Harnanto said.

The 70 concessionaires were assessed as part of a pilot project on ecolabeling trials conducted by the Indonesian Ecolabeling Agency (LEI). Last year's assessment was based on sustainable forest management based on the International Tropical Timber Organization.

LEI, an independent agency established in 1996, in future assessments will use a new ecolabeling standardization jointly prepared with the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations and the Association of Indonesian Concessionaires.

Previously the three agencies had different ecolabeling standards.

Timber companies or concessionaires are required to practice sustainable forest management and to promote the economic and social life of people living around their concessions in order to receive ecolabeling certification.

According to the International Tropical Timber Organization, which groups consumer and supplier countries, ecolabeling will become a prerequisite for producers of tropical timber to gain access to international markets beginning 2000.

At least 19 countries have used ecolabeling since 1977. These countries include some members of the European Union, Canada, Japan, Scandinavian countries, the United States, New Zealand, Australia, India, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Israel.

Harnanto said the office had encouraged the country's 436 forest concessionaires to have their forest management assessed by LEI.

He said his office had also arranged a number of training programs and workshops to help forest concessionaires meet the ecolabeling standards.

"We have to continue giving forest concessionaires and forestry officials a sound understanding of the ecolabeling concept and sustainable forest management so they will be ready to enter the ecolabeling era," he said.

The three-day workshop is jointly held by the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations in cooperation with the Swedish International Development and Cooperation and Sweden-based Jaakko Pyry Consulting AB. The workshop ends tomorrow. (gis)