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.