Tracking the timber along Kalimantan's rivers

Tracking the timber along Kalimantan's rivers

By Simon Marcus Gower

PELAI HARI, South Kalimantan (JP): Taking some time out from
modern Jakarta, some evidence of the old city of Batavia may
still be seen.

The north of modern day Jakarta is where the capital city was
first established. At one of the northernmost tips of the city is
the actual reason for the establishment of the city's the old
harbor. A significant part of the old harbor is still active
today. Sunda Kelapa is still a docking point for many
seagoing vessels.

The vessels here, though, are not giant cargo ships or tankers
but modest sized schooners. These wooden boats have been built
from decades, even centuries, old designs and their one
concession to modernity is the engines that allow them to chug
between the Indonesian islands rather than just sail.

From these aged craft large amounts of cargo are
brought into the city but the most noticeable commodity being
carried ashore is timber. Dozens of workers labor over each of
the boats carrying off an apparently endless supply of lengths of
timber. Performing balancing acts along thin planks from the
boats to the harbor, these men load up truck after
truck with the timber. But where does this supply come
from? Can it really be as endless as it seems?

An almost nervous reply is received from one of the
supervisors counting the loads being lifted onto the waiting
trucks. With hesitation and a look of concern he says that it is
from Kalimantan. Then, almost apologetically, he adds that it is
all from "properly managed forests".

The fact that he felt obligated to add this extra piece of
information triggers further questions. Inevitably, with the huge
amounts of timber arriving at Sunda Kelapa daily, a
primary question has to be is this timber being grown
and harvested in a sustainable manner?

In Kalimantan itself huge quantities of timber will
be seen. Further evidence of the huge wood-based
industry of this vast Indonesian island. But questions
will remain as to whether or not sustainability is
being achieved or even pursued.

Boat trips

Setting out from the southernmost significant town
of Kalimantan, Pelai Hari, to take a series of boat
trips up the rivers of the province of South
Kalimantan, the scale of the timber industry is soon
brought into perspective.

On an old, leaky wooden boat, no doubt constructed from
Kalimantan timbers, chugging along all of these southern
waterways every human habitation facing onto the waterways is a
product of the timber industry. From wooden houses
that stand upon wooden stilt piles, to traditional
schooner building yards right up to the enormous
sawmills and plywood factories, each building that
stands on a South Kalimantan river either uses
directly or processes the timber of Kalimantan.

The rivers themselves are congested with timber and
timber products. Huge barges carry hundreds of
colossal tree trunks and large portions of the river
are choked up with tree trunks floating in the waters
waiting to be sawn up and processed in the factories.
These tree trunks have been floated down rivers all
the way from central and east Kalimantan.

Traffic on the rivers also reflects the timber
industry. From small boats that bus thousands of
workers to the mills and factories to the gigantic
ships that carry away the products of those mills and
factories. All kinds of river and seagoing vessel are
employed in meeting the demands of the timber trade.

But what of those demands -- are they outstripping the supply?
Speak to any "officials",
such as the accounting supervisor back at Sunda
Kelapa, and you will get the "official line". This
proclaims that the timber is cut from "productive
forests" only and that premium profits are ploughed
back into the industry so that replanting projects
will sustain supply to meet demand.

The "official line" though may not be as sound and
trustworthy as one would hope. Talking to a former
employee of a logging company suggests that the
proclaimed limitation to "productive forests" does not
always happen in reality. This former logger moved to
South Kalimantan after two decades in the trade in
East Kalimantan. He told of the manner in which
forests would simply be cut without any reference to
boundaries marking "forest reserves" or "protected
forests". This meant that virgin and ancient forests
were inevitably engulfed into the "productive forest"
areas. Along with the vast scale of Kalimantan's forests, he
said, it has been possible to routinely side-step conservation
efforts with no penalty or consequence ensuing.

Thus it seems the huge quantities of timber coming
from Kalimantan are not wholly harvested in a
sustainable manner. Hectare after hectare of forest
has already been removed. Commercial and financial
imperatives have held greater weight than conservation
theories or hopes of saving Kalimantan's rainforests.

Meranti, a species of timber in the mahogany family,
has been imported in huge quantities to the West from
Indonesia. Selling slogans for the timber as having
been extracted from "sustainable and managed forests"
are used. People buy this timber accepting the jargon
of "environmentally friendly forest cutting and
replanting" and in good faith believe that they have
bought a "green" product. However, it appears these
slogans and jargon may often be mere sales pitches
rather than genuine reflections upon how the timber
has been and continues to be attained.

The sight and scale of the timber industry in South
Kalimantan is imposing and clearly this industry is
one of the, if not the, largest employers of
Indonesians in the Kalimantan provinces. Similarly the
sight of the schooners unloading their timber cargoes
at the dock at Sunda Kelapa in Jakarta is intriguing.

Postcards can still be bought featuring this unique
part of the capital.

But the next time you intend to buy any wooden
furniture in Jakarta it may be worth pausing to think
of the forest that has probably been lost in the
production of that table or chair. Or, the next time
you contemplate the purchase of a wood carving by the
craftsmen of Bali it might be worthwhile stopping to
think of the source of that beautiful piece of wood.

The source of so much of Indonesia's timber is
Kalimantan's rain forests and that supply will be ever
dwindling if greater control and regulation is not
achieved. Tracking the timbers of Kalimantan reveals
that the demand is great and the supply is meeting
that demand. The cost in ecological terms is high
though and the suppliers are often avaricious in
ensuring that they can maintain supply.