Jakarta says fails to meet donor forestry demands

TANJUNG PUTING, Indonesia - Indonesia's new forestry minister said the government has failed to fulfil promises to major international donors on forestry projects because the pledges were unrealistic.

Marzuki Usman made the comments ahead of a two-day review of economic reforms with key donors in the Consultative Group for Indonesia (CGI), that gets underway in Jakarta yesterday.

"To implement one commitment is very difficult and now we have this other problem such as illegal logging. How can we implement all these commitments at once," Usman, who was appointed last month, said in an interview over the weekend.

"To give the (overall pledge) was crazy... We have to do them one by one," he said while touring the Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan province, part of the giant island of Borneo that has been logged heavily in recent decades.

Fires caused by illegal loggers and land clearing on Borneo also contribute to a haze that hits neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia each dry season.

Last October, donors demanded Jakarta deal with 12 issues concerning forest protection, including stopping deforestation, restructuring forestry-based industry and closing timber companies heavily in debt.

Indonesia's tropical forests are the world's largest outside Brazil.

Over the next two days, donors from the CGI will assess the progress of the commitment on forestry as part of their review ahead of a formal summit later this year.

If donors find Indonesia has failed to implement commitments, the disbursement of $4.8 billion in loans the CGI pledged in Tokyo late last year could be held up.
Environmentalists say little progress has been made.

Presidential Order

President Abdurrahman Wahid issued an order over the weekend to crack down on illegal loggers, including military-backed companies, in the Mount Leuser National Park in northern Aceh province and also the Tanjung Puting National Park.

"If we don't take this action in three to five years time the park will be gone," Usman said after flying over the Tanjung Puting park, home to various species including endangered orangutans.
In Tanjung Puting, widespread illegal logging of a rare tree called "ramin" (gonystylus) has destroyed huge areas of the park, which is about five times the size of Singapore.

In a bid to protect the park, the government last week banned the sale and cutting of ramin trees.

The park covers both low-lying, swampy terrain and higher, dry-ground tropical forest. An aerial view shows much of it has been flattened, with piles of logs clogging winding creeks.
Suhertin, head of the national park, said 40 percent of the park had been destroyed, mostly through illegal logging.

Several illegal logging camps were seen in the park, which is in the southern part of Borneo.

Ant Bomb

Usman flew to the park to deliver the presidential order against illegal logging. Officials in the area complain of a lack of funds to fight the problem.

"The international community has condemned us, they think we are a nation of a second-class citizens because we can't protect our forests," Usman told officials.
In the order, Wahid instructed authorities including the military "to take stern action against all parties involved in the criminal acts in the forestry sector, without exception".

Usman said the government planned to use environmentally friendly devices in the fight against illegal logging, including ants which will be dropped on, and bite, the loggers.

"I saw two base camps (of illegal loggers) at the park, we can use bomb ants and drop them from helicopters and we can use other insects to evict them," Usman said. (Story by Tomi Soetjipto, REUTERS NEWS SERVICE). (Sumber : Planet Ark Interview, 24 March 2001)