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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Indonesia Fails to Halt Illegal Logging

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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org

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08/01/00

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY

The Indonesian government must move beyond making empty pledges to

conserve its rainforests in exchange for donor finance, and take

action to show it is serious about halting illegal logging and

rationalizing forest and land management. In February the government

stated to a donor meeting that they would immediately deal with

illegal logging, including outrageous logging in national parks. It

is reported that blatant and illegal logging continues apace,

threatening orangutan populations in supposed protected parks. What a

tragedy. Indonesia's rich forests could provide sustainable

development benefits essentially forever, if only there was the will

to reign in those profiting from rainforest liquidation.

g.b.

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Title: Indonesia Fails to Halt Illegal Logging, Environmental Group

Says

Source: (c) 2000 DPA

Date: July 27, 2000

JAKARTA, July 27-Indonesia is reneging on pledges to foreign donors to

halt illegal logging in its national parks, which is threatening the

environment and pushing several species of endangered animals toward

extinction, an environmental watchdog said Wednesday.

The Jakarta government had promised donor nations and lending

institutions such as The World Bank during a meeting in February that

it would immediately deal with illegal logging, especially in its

national parks.

However, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), an

international non-profit group with offices in London and Washington,

issued a scathing report saying Indonesia had failed to even halt the

most blatant illegal logging operations.

The group released footage showing unlicensed sawmills and illegally-

felled timber floating down streams in the Tandjung Puting National

Park on Borneo. The loggers in particular go after Ramin timber, which

is used to make furniture.

Dave Currey, the director of EIA, told a press conference that the

park is "a test case to see if the government has the political will

to deal with illegal logging."

"If you cannot stop illegal logging in an area like Tandjung Puting,

then you can't stop illegal logging at all," he said.

Indonesian is undergoing a dramatic transformation toward democracy

following 32 years of autocratic rule under former president Suharto.

As a result, the Jakarta government is fighting to wrestle control of

its restive provinces, which have become mini-feifdoms for local

government and military officials.

World Bank figures estimate that Indonesia loses 1.5 million hectares

of forest cover a year, mostly through illegal logging.

The vast Indonesian archipelago contains 10 per cent of the world's

remaining tropical forests, and at the current rate of logging,

production forests will disappear within two decades, according to

EIA.

Indonesia is home to around 80 per cent of the world's orangutans, and

rampant logging on Borneo and Sumatra has seen their habitats shrink

and population dwindle by half in the past decade to between 15,000

and 25,000.

Currey said illegal loggers had encroached on an abandoned orangutan

monitoring center in north Sumatra, where researchers were studying a

rare sub-species that uses tools.

But EIA environmentalists assigned blame to logging companies, timber

barrons and corrupt police and military officials, saying the Jakarta

government has not done enough to crack down on illegal timber

production.

The group saved its most stinging criticism for Abdul Rasyid, a timber

barren and politician in Borneo's central Kalimantan province, and his

Tanjung Ligga company.

The company drew international condemnation in January by kidnapping

and assaulting two EIA staff who attempted to make an appointment to

speak with company officials at their office in Borneo. It took two

days of intervention by the Jakarta government and foreign embassies

for the wounded environmentalists to be freed.

EIA has accused Tanjung Ligga of rampant illegal logging in the

national park, and blamed the Jakarta government for doing nothing to

stop the company.

EIA officials met Tuesday with President Abdurrahman Wahid and

Forestry Minister Mahmudi Ismail, during which both officials pledged

their commitment to end illegal logging nationwide.

Wahid reportedly took a personal interest in resolving the problem,

which threatens the survival of the orangutan, Sumatran tiger and

other animals, not to mention the 60 million Indonesians who depend on

the forest for their livelihood.

One environmentalist said the government needed to move beyond pledges

and take action to show it was serious about halting illegal logging.

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