Timber supply shortage may threatens forests, says NGO

Timber supply shortage may threatens forests, says NGO

JAKARTA (JP): This year's expected timber supply shortage will
further threaten domestic forestry sustainability, according to a
non-governmental organization.

The Indonesian Network for Forest Conservation (SKEPHI) said
yesterday that the shortage would further encourage timber theft
and illegal logging.

The country's natural forests produced only 33 million cubic
meters of wood last year, or 82 percent of the wood demanded by
domestic wood-processing industries, the organization said.

The network said in a year-end statement that local wood-
processing industries had required about 40 million cubic meters
of logs last year.

"It means there was a shortage of about seven million cubic
meters of wood," it said.

The network's coordinator, S. Indro Tjahjono, said there was a
five million-cubic meter shortage of raw material for the pulp
and paper industry alone.

"These shortages resulted in numerous cases of timber theft
and smuggling last year and caused low timber prices on the local
market," Indro said.

"This situation has also tempted many parties to become
involved in this illegal business, including local government
officials, locals and irresponsible members of the Armed Forces,"
he said.

He said these parties' "conspiracy" had made it hard to apply
forestry laws.

Indro said the low productivity of the country's forests was
the result of poor forest management which was apparently caused
by the "low integrity" of foresters and businesspeople in
forestry.

"Deviations occur because the current economic structure
encourages... activities which are against sustainable forest
management," he said.

He said that if timber theft, low forest productivity and
forest conversion continued this year, the country would suffer
from "uncontrollable deforestation" which would result in a loss
of one million to two million hectares of forest each year.

"This will threaten the sustainability of Indonesia's tropical
forests," he said.

Indro said that low forest productivity -- caused by
inefficient logging -- and high timber demand would continue to
encourage logging.

"Logging will be done under the guise of forest conversion in
areas designated for non-forestry purposes," he said.

He cited the conversion of one million hectares of peat land
in Central Kalimantan -- which included large areas of forest --
into rice fields and agricultural plantations.

"From this huge project alone, about six million cubic meters
of timber can be harvested over the next two to three years," he
said.

Other forest conversion projects included the opening up of
forests for new transmigration sites.

He said such conversion projects had helped cover last year's
timber shortages.

"SKEPHI is afraid that this year, the need for timber will
become a justification for unnecessary forest conversions and
this may cause an oversupply of certain plantation commodities
such as oil palms," he said.

Indro said there was now an "irrational growth" of pulp and
paper companies compared to the availability of their raw
materials.

"This development forces the Ministry of Forestry to provide
raw material from existing natural forests because timber from
estates cannot be harvested yet," he said. (pwn)