Selective-cutting ruse in RI forest managemnet

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)