Private concessionaires lack qualified personnel

Private concessionaires lack qualified personnel

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo
yesterday criticized private forest concessionaires for their
lack of qualified staff, saying this could make them unfit to
comply with ecolabeling requirements.

Speaking to forestry officials at the opening of a 4-day
workshop, Djamaludin said that the personnel situation in
privately-owned forest concessionaires was "critical", compared
with those overseen by his ministry, particularly in areas
dealing with the ecolabeling process.

This is a system whereby timber products will be labeled if
they come from sustainable forests in tropical countries. It will
soon become a prerequisite before such products will be allowed
to enter markets in many countries.

The workshop is being attended by high-ranking forestry
ministry officials from all 27 provinces.

Djamaludin said the lack of qualified employees was mostly
felt at the field-supervisor and technician levels.

"There is an urgent need to increase the private sector's role
in training and educating forestry personnel," he said.

Djamaludin also emphasized the importance of the private
sector's participation in ensuring the survival of the country's
natural forests and in maintaining their sustainability.

"Forest security is presently overseen only by the
government's forest rangers and forest-security teams... The
private sector has yet to take up any of this responsibility," he
said.

The minister said that although indigenous forest people were
those most affected by logging activities, they were the least
able to contribute to forest sustainability.

"They can only participate in securing natural forests if they
are sensitive to the proper use of the forests," adding that many
forest dwellers needed greater education and training to make
them more aware of how to improve forest sustainability.

Exports

Responding to questions about the prospects of forest-based
industries, Djamaludin said he was convinced they would do well.

He said that although he was aware that many analysts foresaw
a gloomy future for forest-based industries owing to the decline
in raw material supplies, the government had anticipated this by
encouraging the development of industrial timber estates.

"Currently, the industries still rely on natural forests --
which grow at a very slow rate -- for their wood supplies and we
have not yet been able to plant large-scale timber estates," he
admitted.

"But we will speed up the development of timber estates,
especially fast-growing species which will be suitable for
industries such as pulp and paper, medium density fiberboard and
particle board," he said.

These industries, Djamaludin said, would replace the plywood
industry as the main foreign currency earner in the future
because plywood required logs of large diameters.

Meanwhile, the executive chairman of the Association of
Indonesian Wood Panel Producers, Tjipto A. Wigjoprajitno, said
plywood prices on the world market were now rising in line with
the economic recovery in importing countries, such as Japan,
European countries and the United States.

Plywood prices in Japan recently increased by US$20 per cubic
meter, in Europe by $25 and in South Korea by $20 to $22.

Plywood prices currently range between $395 and $670,
depending on its quality.

According to the statistics of the Indonesian Forest Society,
exports of forest products in 1994 reached $6.41 billion, down
from $6.79 billion in 1993.

In 1994, exports of forest products accounted for 21.1 percent
of the total non-oil exports, down from 25.2 percent in 1993.
(pwn)