Ruling on forest utilization to be reviewed: Official

JAKARTA (JP): The government said on Tuesday it would review the five-month-old regulation on forest utilization because the maximum acreage set for timber companies does not encourage them to adopt sustainable practices.

Director General of the Utilization of Production Forest Waskito Suryodibroto said the maximum acreage for companies under Government Regulation No. 6/1999 appeared infeasible for supporting sustainable forest management.

"After a long study, we concluded that the regulation does not encourage timber companies to manage their areas in a sustainable manner, and therefore should be revised," he said in a forestry discussion.

Under the regulation issued in February, a concessionaire can manage a maximum of 100,000 hectares of forest in a province. A concessionaire is allowed to hold concessions in different provinces, but their combined size cannot exceed 400,000 hectares.

Plantation companies, except for sugarcane, are not allowed to manage more than 100,000 hectares of land, with a maximum of 20,000 hectares in one province.

PT Alas Kusuma's director for forest management Nana Suparna said the severe restrictions threatened the commercial viability of timber companies.

Nana said the small acreage did not provide economies of scale for sustainable forest management, which is a prerequisite to obtain ecolabeling certification.

Ecolabeling certification will be required for producers of tropical timber to gain access to international markets beginning in 2000.

"Managing smaller concessions in a sustainable manner is much costlier, given the big investment and technology needed to manage the forest."

Nana added that the limits on the forest concession area would also affect the wood-processing industry.

Wood-processing plants would face severe shortages of input if the maximum acreage limits were imposed because wood mills were designed to be supplied by larger forest areas, he added.

Nana suggested that the government set maximum limits on each area's yield potential since they differed significantly among forests.

An official of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Suyono Suwarno, admitted the maximum limit was formulated without economic considerations.

"It seemed the limit of 400,000 hectares was set out of the blue," he said. (gis)