Timber consultant says bad guys are winning the war

Timber consultant says bad guys are winning the war

By Bruce Emond

JAKARTA (JP): It's not all black and white when Jim Jarvie
turns his expert eye on the rape of the country's forests.

Sure, there are the bad guys, a gang of thieves which includes
corrupt concessionaires, government officials and, reportedly,
members of the security apparatus on the take.

And yet Jarvie says there are also those who are trying their
best to do the right thing -- because they know their foreign
markets require they comply with sustainable logging standards --
and being frustrated in the attempt.

Jarvie, with bachelor's and master's degrees in ecology,
taxonomy and evolution, first came to the country from his native
Scotland in the 1980s, serving as a VSO British volunteer working
on spice-producing trees. After receiving his doctorate in
biology in the U.S., he ran a project on plant inventory in Bukit
Baka Bukit Raya National Park in Kalimantan.

He said he also became involved in a USAID project promoting
sustainable forestry in a nearby concession.

"I became aware there of the partnerships needed to really
promote conservation, between academics, NGOs and the industry."

After a period in Irian Jaya working with the local government
to put a conservation agenda into spatial planning, Jarvie
focused on how forest conservation, forestry and decentralization
must work together for the long-term future of the forests. Today
he is a consultant on timber certification for sustainable forest
programs.

In an interview in Jakarta and by e-mail, Jarvie discussed the
perilous situation of the country's forests.

Question: What are you trying to do in reconciling
conservation needs with the needs of communities and
concessionaires?

Answer: To start with, not reinventing the wheel. I work with
the certification process because it is the only third party,
audited system that functions in Indonesia. It's the timber trade
version of the ISO standards. It's market based and transparent.

Certification of a concession is a trade tool that lets an end
consumer be confident that the product they are buying comes from
an area of land in which sustainable forest management is being
practiced. The certification definition of sustainable forest
management stands upon principles and criteria that fully
integrate social, ecological and production issues. None stand
individually; together they form an integrated system. This tool
works all over the globe, so I try and reconcile conservation
needs with communities and concessionaires via the best available
tool already proven.

I recognize that most national parks have been allocated in
areas where concessionaires find, or at least found, it difficult
to operate. The lowland forests of Indonesia are the largest
tracts of land of their type threatened on our planet. They are
being burned, converted and otherwise lost. The only remaining
tracts, principally in East Kalimantan and West Papua (Irian
Jaya), which have a management system that should be interested
in their longevity, are the concessions. So it's easy. If you are
going to save lowland forests, work with concessions to ensure
their survival.

Q: What are the benefits of certification?

A: Through certification, there is now an emerging middle ground
that permits the conservation, social and production forestry
sectors to work together constructively and pragmatically.
Certification is based on long-term sustainability of forests.
This serves the forestry sector through providing acceptable
profit and long-term access to certified-timber markets.

From the conservation perspective, sustainable forest
management will promote long-term biodiversity conservation and
go a long way toward improving the current forestry practices
that continue to cause alarm.

Q: What are the problems with the situation at the moment?

A: First and foremost a lack of law and order, exacerbated
further by the chaos of regional autonomy. There are
concessionaires who want to do better, not because of newfound
vision but because they have some markets demanding better
practices and a need to generate a more responsible corporate
front.

This appears to be largely because their concessions have been
allocated in the provinces by the central government, at a time
when local central government's control is questionable.

The problems are based in history. Soeharto's New Order
Government allocated forest concessions mainly to powerful
conglomerates and politico-business families. Now responsibility
for management forests other than conservation areas (national
parks and reserves) is devolved to the district level, with
criteria and standards not enforced by central government -- it
is too weak. Most districts have no capacity for detailed spatial
and development planning for sustainable development, nor
mechanisms to coordinate forest and watershed management with
neighboring districts.

Q: What about the security authorities?

A: The security of logging concessions is supposedly a joint
responsibility of the concessions and district forest department
(ministry), yet neither makes any attempt to stop illegal
logging. Some government officials and concession staff are
reportedly known to act in collusion with illegal loggers by
turning a blind eye or providing permits for timber cutting,
transport and customs-sanctioned import of heavy equipment from
outside of Indonesia ...

There are those who want to stop illegal logging practices.
The most proactive sometimes face serious intimidation and even
arson and murder.

Q: What can be done to resolve the situation?

A: Lots of initiatives have been suggested or tried with varying
degrees of pragmatism in design, and commitment to
implementation. An export ban on Indonesian timber is often
discussed, but this will gain little national or local support
and is probably unenforceable. It would kill the few Indonesian
and international initiatives that have the potential to foster
sustainable forest management.

In the short term, enforcement of national law is critical. A
recent report by the Directorate of Nature Conservation concluded
that local police capacity was insufficient to address the scale
and power of illegal logging networks and that military action
may be necessary to protect national parks. Emergency action must
be taken to enforce closure of illegal sawmills and stop illegal
logging operations. Where concessionaires have lost control over
their own concession areas, all operations should be suspended,
especially the building of new logging roads that open up new
areas of the forest frontier to exploitation.

Q: Can the media play a part?

A: A concerted media campaign to promote public debate and
mobilize civil society must be an integral part of any action to
control illegal logging. Public, political and donor attitudes
must change to favor the prosecuting those involved in illegal
logging, including top officials; state-enforced protection of
ecosystems that are critically important for conservation of
national and global biodiversity; independent third-party
monitoring of forestry practices and public exposure of
wrongdoing; increasing awareness of the watershed and
environmental values of forests; and capturing the long-term
benefits that can accrue if forests are managed under an "ethical
consumerism" umbrella.

For the long term, the most promising approach for sustainable
forest management is to foster initiatives that encourage joint
management between concessionaires, communities and district
government. As I said, via certification there is already a
growing minority of logging concessions going for international
and local timber "green" certification mechanisms as an
alternative forest governance mechanism that can secure local
buy-in and better practice. A change from large-scale, company-
based exploitation to lower-impact joint ventures will require a
complete rethinking of forest profitability and beneficiaries.

The illegal logging in Indonesia has global relevance but no
simple solution. The scientific community, the conservation
movement, industry and the Indonesian and donor governments must
move from apparent complacency to vigorous action at local
levels.

Q: What's the most frustrating challenges you face?

A: The lack of action against illegal logging is seriously
frustrating. Those against illegal logging are divided and spend
more time in workshops debating each other, wasting time and
money, than accomplishing anything real.

Illegal loggers don't have workshops and they don't debate.
They just get on with it. That's why they're winning, and winning
handsomely.