Walhi opposes forest concession in Aceh

Walhi opposes forest concession in Aceh

Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

A leading non-governmental organization (NGO) has opposed a plan
by the government to grant forest concessions to 11 businessmen
intended to secure a supply of timber for reconstruction work in
Aceh.

If the plan materializes, the 11 businessmen will be permitted
to cut some 500,000 cubic meters next year in designated forest
areas. The forested area in Aceh currently covers 3.265 million
hectares.

If the concessions are granted, flooding in the tsunami-
wrecked province will increase, says Dewa Gumai, the chief of the
advocacy and campaign division of the Indonesian Forum for the
Environment (Walhi) Aceh chapter.

The government's argument that the forest concessions are
badly needed to assure a supply of logs for Aceh's reconstruction
is not right, said Dewa. In order to meet the demand for logs,
the government could obtain logs from various sources such as
illegal loggers throughout the country or the use of other
materials could be encouraged, said Dewa.

Reconstruction work has taken place since the tsunami swept
away houses in Aceh's coastal cities in December last year. The
government, backed by international donors, has promised to build
thousands of houses for tsunami victims and rebuild public
facilities, thus raising the demand for wood and other building
materials.

Meanwhile, strong opposition to the government plan was also
voiced by deputy speaker of the Aceh Legislative Council, Raihan
Iskandar. "The government already has a plan to turn Aceh into a
green province, but suddenly it is going ahead with another plan
to grant businessmen forest concessions," said Raihan.

Separately, chief of the Forestry Office with the Aceh
provincial administration Mustafa Hasbullah confirmed the plan,
saying he had already received a letter from the Minister of
Forestry M.S. Ka'ban that the central government would proceed
with the plan.

The plan is not new in Aceh. The central government had also
granted forest concessions in Aceh for businessmen several years
ago but the grants were all revoked in 2001 after prolonged armed
conflict in the province.

Responding to the new plan by the government, the office has
asked the minister to conduct a feasibility study before going
ahead with the plan. "Since the mounting armed conflict in 1998,
the government has not informed us of the forest situation. We
need to map out which areas would be suited for forest
concessions," said Mustafa.

Forest concessions have been granted nationwide since the
Soeharto government. Under the program, the firms granted forest
concessions would fell trees in designated areas normally on
jungle-clad islands such as Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi and
are obliged to replant the area.

The program has drawn criticism from many NGOs as it is prone
to irregularities. In some cases, the firms have cut trees beyond
the designated areas thus deceiving the state, and in other
cases, the firms have not replanted the trees as stipulated in
the contracts, thus destroying the forest.

Irregularities continue to occur unchecked as government
monitoring is a difficult task in view of the sheer size of the
forest.