Plan to extend forest concessions supported

Plan to extend forest concessions supported

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Forestry supports a proposal to
extend forest concessions from 20 years to 70 years by revising
Law No. 5/1967 on forestry, Minister of Forestry Djamaludin
Suryohadikusumo said over the weekend.

The minister's support was based on the government wanting
concessionaires to manage their forests sustainably and the
revision would offer concessionaires more legal certainty.

"It is necessary to extend the concessions' validity to give
more legal certainty to concessionaires and to increase their
interest in adopting sustainable management," Djamaludin said.

Many concessionaires have applied to the government to convert
their forest areas to palm oil plantations if there was no legal
certainty about the extension of their concession rights.

"The function of forests cannot be replaced by plantations,"
he said.

Forests were the source of germ plasma and the home of
endangered animals whose survival would be in danger if forests
were converted.

"Hitherto, there are still pros and cons on the plan to extend
the validity of forest concession rights so the revision of Law
No. 5/1967 may take a long time," he said.

Djamaludin said the ministry would try to finish formulating
the revision by the end of the current cabinet's term in March
1998 but doubted the ministry would be able to do so.

He said in formulating the proposed revision the government
should consider the views of forest concessions' stakeholders,
forestry experts, non-government organizations and the young
generation.

Indonesia has 490 forest concessionaires.

The minister said his department started formulating the
revision early 1995 after President Soeharto approved it. (10)