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.