President asks for reform on forest management

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri insisted on Thursday that Indonesian forestry officials and management must reform the entire industry to save the rapidly dwindling forests.

During her opening statements at a forestry congress in Jakarta, Megawati lamented the fact that the old management system had allowed corruption and collusion between dishonest officials and timber companies.

"To atone for our past mistakes, we will have to show our responsibility to the future generation by greatly improving forest management," she said.

Unchecked illegal logging and a lack of reforestation programs were blamed for the quickly deteriorating forests throughout the archipelago. According to the World Bank, Indonesia lost about 1.5 million hectares of forests on average each year between 1985 and 1997. By the beginning of 2000, Indonesia's forests had been reduced to a mere 20 million hectares, down from pre-1985 levels of nearly 43 million hectares.

Government officials are being blamed for the decrease along with farmers who employ slash-and-burn techniques in addition to a large group of illegal loggers. Non-governmental organizations point their finger primarily at companies engaged in illegal logging and their collusion with government officials for the problem.

Megawati stated that the era when forests were a major source of state revenue and livelihood for many people is over.

The President said that mismanagement and the lack of proper planning with reforestation programs had ended it all.

"The result of (mismanagement and corruption) is that we now face immense losses to the state budget and a great number of people have been deprived of their livelihood," she said.

"Whatever our excuse is, the over-exploitation of forests has turned vast forested land into grassland and devastated the ecosystem."

The President said that outside Java, problems such as illegal logging, encroachment and land clearing for plantation projects continue unabated. In densely-populated Java, it is difficult to protect the remaining patches of forested land.

"We should keep in mind that the weaknesses in planning and coordination among related agencies has contributed to the loss of our forests," she said.

The congress, held by the Ministry of Forestry, was attended by government officials, environmentalists, forestry experts and other forestry stakeholders.