Indonesia's Forests Are Vanishing Far Faster Than Thought

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org

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http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest Conservation

1/25/00

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY

New satellite imagery indicates Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Sumatra,

Indonesia show a shocking loss of more than 17 million hectares of

rainforests in 12 years. "This is one-fourth of the total Indonesian

forest cover that existed in 1985... the nationwide annual

deforestation rate is at least 1.5 million hectares..." This is far

faster than previously thought, clearly not sustainable, and means

that this contiguous region of lowland rainforests; that constituted a

globally significant, tremendously large ecosystem, will essentially

be lost except for isolated remnants. The price paid locally as well

as globally is both in terms of lost native biodiversity and emergent

ecosystem process and pattern (atmosphere, water, soil, nutrients,

etc.). A small percentage of yearly military expenditure, or for that

matter, what was spent to save us from the Y2K bug, would fund

rainforest conservation projects that would slow, if not halt, the

decline of priceless tropical rainforest ecosystems. It is time to

demand that this expenditure be made. Organize and agitate.

g.b.

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Title: Indonesia's Forests Are Vanishing Faster Than Ever

Source: International Herald Tribune

Date: January 25, 2000

Byline: Thomas Walton and Derek Holmes International Herald Tribune

JAKARTA - Indonesia's forests are disappearing even faster than

studies a few years ago indicated. Despite the proclamations of

previous Indonesian governments of a permanent forest estate, with 49

million hectares in protected status and another 63 million managed

for sustainable production, deforestation has continued unchecked.

Indeed, it has accelerated.

Neither the efforts of dedicated nongovernmental organizations nor the

projects supported by a small but persistent group of international

donors have slowed the pace of forest destruction. Only a radical

departure from business as usual will spare the world's fourth most

populous nation the loss of this precious natural resource, which has

generated annual export earnings averaging $3.6 billion in the past

three years.

Using 1997 satellite imagery, the Ministry of Forestry and Estate

Crops has produced new forest cover maps for the islands of

Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Sumatra which show a shocking loss of more

than 17 million hectares in 12 years. This is one-fourth of the total

Indonesian forest cover that existed in 1985. The ministry now

estimates that the nationwide annual deforestation rate is at least

1.5 million hectares, nearly twice the estimate published by the World

Bank in 1994.

An analysis by the bank shows that lowland dry forest, the most

valuable type of Indonesian forest for logging and biodiversity

conservation, is disappearing fastest. Such forest is essentially

defunct as a viable resource in Sulawesi. It is likely to be gone in

Sumatra by 2005 and in Kalimantan by 2010.

These are three of the largest forested islands of Indonesia, and also

three of the main habitats for rare wildlife. The endangered orangutan

and the nearly extinct Sumatran tiger are just two of the animals not

found anywhere else in the world that depend on the forests.

The list of causes of forest destruction in Indonesia is long. Fires

burned more than 5 million hectares in 1997 and 1998. Satellite photos

show that many of the fires were set by large plantation companies,

but none received more than a slap on the wrist from the government of

former President Suharto, despite the huge economic cost of the fires

to Indonesia. Estimates of that cost range from $4 billion to $7

billion

Permits to convert forest for mines, plantations and settlements have

not respected the official forest boundaries. The licensing process

has not been transparent. Logging concessions have not been strictly

regulated. Perverse incentives exist that make it more lucrative to

clear forested land for plantations than to plant open and

unproductive land.

Illegal logging has become rampant, even in national parks, on a scale

that exceeds the volume of legal logging. Authorities look the other

way while the government loses tax revenue at the rate of roughly $500

million each year. The illegal logging is directly related to

expansion of wood-processing industries well beyond the point where

sustainable harvest of natural forest can meet their demand for logs.

Finally, decisions affecting access to the forest have largely

excluded two groups of stakeholders, rural communities and traditional

forest dwellers.

They might be inclined to manage forests well if they could achieve a

secure flow of benefits from their efforts. They do not, and one

effect is a pattern of destructive encroachment at the edge of the

forest.

If Indonesia wants to keep forests, other than those on land too steep

to be accessible, the government of President Abdurrahman Wahid must

formulate a new approach to managing them. It should do so in a way

that invites the participation of all the agencies and stakeholders

concerned, and gains their commitment and support.

Indonesia needs a National Forest Program that will contain an overall

strategy, a policy reform agenda, and specific action steps. The

details should be left to the stakeholders, but whatever they agree on

will surely need to include at least these eight elements:

-An interagency, multi-stakeholder body responsible for forest policy.

-A freeze on conversion of natural forest for any purpose until the

National Forest Program is in place and a transparent mechanism for

forest-use decisions is functioning.

-A system to broaden and guarantee access to forest benefits for

forest dwellers and local communities, through ownership or secure,

long-term rights of use.

-Environmental education and awareness programs to build a local and

national constituency for forest conservation and sustainable

management.

-Incentives and penalties to improve forest concession management,

including some form of independent inspection.

-Rigorous and consistent enforcement of the laws concerning illegal

logging, burning and encroachment.

-Renewed commitment to conserving Indonesia's world-class biodiversity

heritage by establishing a national network of parks and protected

areas that can be effectively managed by the government in partnership

with local communities and other stakeholders.

-Aggressive replanting programs to return damaged forest land to

productive use and relieve industry pressure on natural forest, while

generating rural employment and income.

It is a tall order. Still, Mr. Wahid's government might just be able

to pull it off - providing it can gain the confidence and commitment

of all the other stakeholders. But it must move fast and decisively,

because time is running out.

Mr. Walton is senior environmental specialist in the Jakarta office of

the World Bank. Mr. Holmes is a consultant to the bank, which is

sponsoring a meeting in Jakarta this Wednesday on management of

Indonesian forests. They contributed this comment to the International

Herald Tribune.

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