RI, China agree to cut illegal log trade

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Chinese government to curb the flow of illegal logs into China.

Minister of Forestry Mohamad Prakosa said on Monday that the agreement was reached during a visit to Beijing on Dec. 18.

The move was expected to help cut the demand for illegal logs, he said.

"Demand for illegal logs is very high in China, thus with the cooperation between the two governments we can launch action against both the buyers and the suppliers," Prakosa said during a press conference.

China, along with Malaysia, have long been recognized as the largest recipients of illegal logs from Indonesia.

The government has previously signed a similar agreement with Malaysia.

Prakosa said that as a first step, the ministry would focus on preventing the illegal trade of intsia spp, a rare type of tree only found in Irian Jaya. It is popularly known as the merbau tree.

Prakosa said there was a strong need to protect the tree to save the forests of Irian Jaya from destruction.

"We will deploy our experts to trace the origins of all intsia spp trees in China and the Indonesian businessmen involved in the smuggling."

The ministry has indicated there are four to five Indonesian businessmen believed to be behind the trade of intsia spp to China.

A source at the ministry said one of the men was a famous timber tycoon but declined to disclose his name.

The ministry is currently making a list of companies suspected of trading the illegal logs, and will publish their names and owners in January 2003.

China has recently emerged as a leading exporter of logs and other wood-based products. But there have been accusations that China was importing cheap illegal logs from Indonesia.

The International Tropical Timber Organization in its report published in early 2002 ranks Malaysia as the number one recipient of Indonesia's illegal logs. In 2000 the trade was estimated at 623,000 cubic meters.

China was ranked second with the import volume of illegal logs reaching 617,712 cubic meters, followed by Japan at 46,330 cubic meters. As a comparison, the legal export of logs to China in 2000 was only 6,054 cubic meters, while Japan was only 321 cubic meters.

Illegal logs from Indonesia can be sold cheaply because they are not subject to various taxes. The price of the Chinese logs is even cheaper than the price of legal Indonesian logs sold in Indonesia, which thus encourages local forestry-based companies to import the logs back from China.

According to the ministry, illegal loggers cut down about 60 million cubic meters of timber each year. The trade is said to cost the government about Rp 30 trillion (about US$3 billion) in tax revenue each year.

In June, 2002, the government signed the cooperation agreement with Malaysia, whose plywood industry is said to rely on illegal logs from Indonesia.

The government has also signed an agreement with the United Kingdom and the European Union to boost efforts to protect the forests and curb illegal logging activities.