Police action sought to curb W. Java deforestation

Police action sought to curb W. Java deforestation

Nana Rukmana
The Jakarta Post
Indramayu

Illegal logging in the regency of Indramayu, West Java, has
reached such alarming levels that stern police actions are needed
to stop it, according to a coalition of non-governmental
organizations (KLI) in Indramayu.

Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, KLI spokesman Dudung AR
said that the state-owned forest management company PT Perhutani
should also take prompt action to deal with the illegal logging,
which had led to deforestation. "We have never seen any action
against large-scale log thefts."

KLI is a coalition of seven large non-governmental
organizations operating in Indramayu, including Greenland,
Pelangi Bahari and Humanit.

"It is ironic that, with most log thefts, the police have
failed to arrest a single suspect. This fact has raised questions
among the people. Therefore, we are now demanding that the West
Java provincial police, Indramayu regency police and PT Perhutani
join forces to wage war against illegal logging and
deforestation," Dudung said.

He said that the NGOs would continue pressing the police and
PT Perhutani to take action. "We assume that many things have
been covered up in relation to this issue."

KLI said that illegal logging and deforestation had taken
place in forests belonging to PT Perhutani.

"The worst-hit areas include the forest in the villages of
Situraja, Mekarjaya, Bantarwaru, and Sanca in the district of
Haurgeulis. The forests that have suffered less damage are in the
village of Cikmurang, Cikedung district, and the villages of
Tanjung and Sukaslamet in Kroya district," he said.

"Until September this year we recorded 475 cases of illegal
logging in the area. The crime has resulted in a total of at
least Rp 5.65 billion in financial losses to the state," he said.
He did not reveal the amount of logs illegally cut down during
the period.

"All the stolen logs were teak wood," he said.

West Java Governor H.R. Nuriana had earlier acknowledged that
forests in many areas in the province were in a critical
condition.

When opening a re-greening campaign in the regency of Kuningan
on Monday, Nuriana said that more serious attention had to be
given to forest and water resources.

The governor estimated that the area covered by barren land in
West Java was three percent larger this year than before. The
amount of critical land reached 875,950 hectares in West Java in
1999.

The expansion of critical land had led to damage to
groundwater sources. The quality and quantity of groundwater had
also dropped, Nuriana said, blaming the 900,000 cubic meters of
pollutants that were dumped directly into the rivers each year.