Environmental watchdog warns of rampant illegal logging in Indonesia
Copyright 2001 Agence France Presse
September 11, 2001
JAKARTA, Sept 11 - Illegal logging in Indonesia is destroying at least 700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) of tropical forest a year, an environmental watchdog said Tuesday.
"The international trade in illegal logs is really out of control. We have witnessed the ruining of Indonesian forests by illegal logging encouraged by the international market," said Hapsoro (eds:one name) from the Telapak Indonesia.
He said that according to estimates of Telapak, a private environmental group based in Bogor, West Java, more than 70 percent of the timber circulating in Indonesia came from illegal logging.
Telapak activists have also seen Indonesian illegally-felled logs and timber smuggled to Malaysia from where they are processed for export to the US, Japan, Europe and China.
"It is estimated that five million cubic metres of timber flows into Malaysia every year or the equivalent of 700,000 hectares of tropical rain forest," Hapsoro said.
In a joint report prepared by Telapak and the Environmental Investigation Agency, the two groups unveiled how international market demand for tropical wood has led to the destruction of various protected forests in Indonesia.
The report said wood from the Ramin (Gonystylus) tree prevalent in marshy areas was most popular among illegal loggers.
"We call for regional cooperation in Southeast Asia to fight illegal logging and campaign for a new regulation in consumer countries so that in the future, trade in wood from illegal sources be classified as an illegal activity that is punishable," Hapsoro said.
"Serious action should be taken to immediately halt the illegal logging," he added.
Indonesia has around 10 percent of the world's remaining tropical rain forest but environmental watchdogs have said that logging -- official or illegal -- is fast depleting it.