Selective-cutting ruse in RI forest managemnet

JAKARTA (JP): The majority of forest concessionaires do not practice sound selective-cutting methods, but do the bare minimum as a ruse to be allowed to continue operating, Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo says.

Djamaludin said yesterday that most forest concessionaires' reports to the government contain superficial claims of having conducted environmentally-sound forest management practices.

"After making site checks, we often find that their reports (on the implementation of) mandatory social and environmental programs are just a ruse... They don't really conduct the programs seriously," he said after opening a workshop on regional management plans for the establishment of Forest Management Units (KPHP).

The KPHPs are forest units that can produce optimum harvests when cutting is conducted in an environmentally-friendly manner.

Forest concessionaires currently operating are expected to comply with the new design.

The government aims to establish 195 KPHPs in at least 10 provinces by the end of the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan in 1999.

Djamaludin said the mandatory programs -- which have been designed to guarantee that forests and local people are not hurt by the forestry operations -- include social forestry projects and selective cutting methods.

He said professional assessors will soon appraise all concessionaires to determine if they meet ecolabeling requirements.

"These assessors will give us true reports on whether or not the concessionaires are conducting sound cutting practices," he said.

Ecolabeling will become a prerequisite in the next century for tropical timber producers to gain access to markets in certain consumer countries.

Djamaludin said earlier this year that an assessment of 61 concessionaires included in a pilot project concluded that only nine were "adequately prepared" to meet ecolabeling requirements. None were actually "prepared".

The government decided not to give logging permits to 68 of the 188 concessionaires that submitted their 1996/1997 logging plans.

The rejection was based on the failure of the concessionaires, to meet the basic requirements needed to be allowed to harvest at their full capacities.

These requirements include developing social forestry programs and timber estates in cooperation with transmigrants, paying all official levies and fees, and planting certain crops.

Growth

Djamaludin admitted Indonesia has no method to measure the growth of the standing crop in natural forests. Only the growth in timber estates is measured.

He said a data-recording method for natural forests will be designed soon to ensure concessionaires fell only new trees and not to the parent tree.

"A monitoring system will be made to ensure that the remains of selective cutting can continue to grow," he said.

Djamaludin pointed out that the cost of selective cutting is far below that of clear-cutting and, in turn, replanting.

The development of a timber estate, he said, costs US$1,000 to $1,200 per hectare, but selective cutting costs only $200 to $300 per hectare for the same quality of timber and is better for the environment.

"Timber estates must start from zero, after people conduct slash and burn practices, but selective cutting just takes what is produced by parent trees," he said.

The government has been handing out forest concessions to private sector businesses since the 1970s, allowing them to manage 30 million hectares of forest designated for production.

Djamaludin said that forest concessionaires which started operating 20 years ago have not conducted selective cutting, resulting in barren, logged-over areas which must be replanted to maintain environmental sustainability.

The government claims there is presently 144 million hectares of forest. Of this, 30 million hectares (21 percent) are designated as protected forests (for water and soil protection); 19 million hectares (13 percent) as nature reserves and national parks (for nature preservation and genetic conservation); 31 million hectares (22 percent) as limited production forests; 33 million hectares (23 percent) as regular production forests; and 30 million hectares (21 percent) as convertible forests.

Protected forests, nature reserves and national parks are off- limits to logging. (pwn)