RI, China to team up to curb illegal logging

RI, China to team up to curb illegal logging

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government of Indonesia will sign a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) with the Chinese government later this month
to cooperate in curbing rampant illegal logging and trading of
illegal logs.

Minister of Forestry M. Prakosa was quoted by Antara as saying
on Wednesday the agreement was expected to help curb the
smuggling of illegal logs out of Indonesia.

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.

Earlier, the government signed a similar memorandum with
Malaysia, whose plywood industry has been tarnished by
accusations of using illegal logs from Indonesia.

Realizing the negative impact of such accusations, the
government of Malaysia decided to ban import of logs from
Indonesia on June 25.

The ban is aimed at curbing the trade of illegal logs and to
mend the tarnished image of the Malaysian wood industry.

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.

Illegal logs from Indonesia can be sold very cheaply because
they are not subject to various taxes.

Illegal logging has also troubled Indonesia's plywood
industry. The Indonesian Plywood Association (Apkindo) reported
last April that overseas plywood makers particularly from China
and Malaysia now control 60 percent of the domestic market,
offering cheaper plywood made from illegally procured logs from
Indonesia.

Prakosa praised the attempt made by Malaysia, saying that the
country has the goodwill to reject illegal logs from Indonesia.

"The result of the ban is such that if there are Indonesian
logs entering the country, it means that the logs are easily
certified as illegal," said Prakosa.

Reports from the Ministry of Forestry in 2002 said that
illegal loggers cut down some 60 million cubic meters of timber
each year and the government had lost some Rp 30 trillion (about
US$3 billion) in tax revenue each year.

The report also indicates that Indonesia has lost more than 75
percent of its natural forests over the past few decades, leaving
only around 60 million hectares today.

The rate of deforestation in the country reaches between 2
million and 2.4 million hectares a year, according to statistics
from the Office of the State Minister of the Environment.