International Forestry Student Association LC – IPB

Indonesia’s tropical forests are of global importance, ranked second intern of size to those of Brazil and covering over 100 million hectares in 1995. Ten percent of the world’s remaining tropical forest cover is found in Indonesia. Yet these forests have been disappearing at a rate have more than two million hectares every year, and 72% of the country’s original frontier forest has already been lost.

Forest management system, which is not sustainable, has been done for many years. The government has taken over control of the forest from people and virtually gave the chance to the former President Soeharto family and business cronies to exhaust of forest resources. Companies and few corporations that got benefits from corruption, collusion and nepotism during the Soeharto regime has already damaged many of the Indonesian forests. These companies often through the authoritarian apparatus of police, army and forest department has oppressed the local people. Timber production from illegal logging now has outstripped legal timber production.

The forestry sector in Indonesia is fundamentally corrupted and riddled with illegalities. Analysis reveals that the amount or timber from illegal source outstripped that from the legal operations, while in the mid 1990s 84% of timber concession holder failed to obey the rules.

A recent report by The Indonesia UK Tropical forest management Program found that illegal logging accounted for 32 million cubic meters of timber every year, compared with an formal production of 29,5 million cubic meters. There is equivalent to 800.000 hectares of forest illegally logged every year. The report identified illegal logging of natural forests as the primary source of logs, accounting for 52% of total. Formal production from selective logging and conversion of natural forests amounts to 26 million cubic meters or 43% of the total supply. The World Bank in Jakarta estimated that between 1985 and 1997 Indonesia lost an average of 1,5 million hectares of forest cover every year. Much higher than they had previously thought, and there are now only around 20 million hectares of quality production forest left.

The consumption of round wood in Indonesia is now far in excess of the formal supplied. In 1997 the gap between consumption and supply stood at 41million cubic meters, but by 1998 it had grown to 56 million cubic meters. This deficit is accounted for by rampant illegal logging, which now provides around 70 per cent of timber supplied to the processing sector.

The scale of illegal logging is largely a legacy of the unrestrained expansion of the timber-processing sector in Indonesia. While the voracious processing industry can consume almost 80 million cubic meters of logs each year, formal supply can only provide 29,5 million cubic meters, creating a huge shortfall. Such a finding has dire implication, for the future welfare of the 60 million Indonesian people who are dependent on the forest.

The terrible forest fires of 1997 and 1998 finally the world-focused attention on the rapacious deforestation-taking place in Indonesia. Timber and plantation companies clearing the land largely caused the fire that blazed through Sumatra and Borneo at the time. Satellite monitoring has made it possible to identify 176 firms accused of deliberately setting fire to make way for timber or palm oil plantation, although few have so far faced changes.

The damage cause to the remaining forest is much worse than feared at the time. Sophisticated satellite analysis has shown that four million hectares of land were damage in the province of East Kalimantan alone. Compare with the formal estimate of 500.000 hectares. In Indonesia, forest fire has resulted high detriment in many sectors. Human being and natural resources have suffered the detriment. In Kalimantan it caused extinction average 200 flora and fauna species every one-hectare. Most of the animals have burned down and the others have gone down a mountain and entered to villages like in Sumatra and Java.

Forest conversion activity has gotten a legitimization from government since 1981/1982. The first goal of this activity is to improve add value of forest by conversion. In the development this activity cause deforestation. There are two kinds of forest conversion, its legal and illegal conversion. Legal conversion is all of activities have gotten permission from government (based on government decreed), for example to open relocation area, plantation, industrial forest plantation and mining. Illegal conversions are illegal logging and shifting cultivation.

Table 1. Change Forest Function Activity

Source: INTAG, Forest Department (until March 1998)

Forest conversion activity has resulted a chance to do the conversion out of conversion forest. This activity has been doing until now, although it much broken land has reserved. This condition due to that the "actors" got extraordinary benefits, from timber product which was produced from forest through formal license (IPK).

This short-term pillaging of the forest is the legacy of a system that have seen the country’s forest resources carved-up between a few members of the power elite, a system the international community failed to condemn.

This rapid on slight is tearing the heart out of Indonesia is few remaining island of biodiversity as well as removing future potential for local communities. The environmental fall out is causing an in calculable loss in term of priceless biodiversity.

So we hope The Major International Donors, including the USA, The European Union, Japan, The IMF and World Bank, must be held responsible for upholding actions to stop illegal logging and reform forestry law.

Indonesia government should made an alternative forestry law taking into account local community rights, local participant in forestry and recognition of land claim.