Illegal felling in Indonesia's rainforest must stop 

Felling that threatens Indonesia's rainforest must be halted: advice on sustainable forest management will contribute to preventing the illegal felling and trade of tropical timber.
Promotion of regulation and sustainable practices are the primary objectives of a project which, over the next five years, should lead to more environmentally-friendly systems in Indonesia's forestry sector and timber industry.

Such conditions should also lead to a reduction in the trade of illegal timber. COWI is assisting the Indonesian authorities and forestry department in an EU-sponsored project that involves providing advice on the management of natural resources, the combating of corruption, decentralisation and conflict management.

Capacity-building

"We are providing on-the-job training and consultancy in legislation, management, and administration with a focus on capacity-building so that work can continue when the project has been completed.

"We will be working with Finnish company, Savcor Indufor and our two Indonesian partners, WWF Indonesia and the Natural Resources Law Institute. Together, we will help the Indonesian authorities develop systems and methods for revising forestry legislation and developing new procedures for monitoring illegal activities," says Project Manager Jens Bach from COWI.

Problems with corruption

Major commercial interests are involved in the misuse of the Indonesian forests. Corrupt practices make the monitoring of illegal felling difficult.

"Trees are being felled and turned into timber at sawmills to be sold or further processed, for example in furniture production. Most countries expect imported tropical timber to be produced in a sustainable fashion, but not all countries are equally discerning," says Jens Bach.


Rainforests are disappearing

If the Indonesian rainforest continues to be felled at the current rate, in a few years, only very little, if any, of the original forest will be left. Many Indonesians would not survive without the forest industry, so there is huge pressure to keep it going.

"This is why we must find a sensible and well-balanced solution that allows people to continue making their living from the forests, but within a controlled framework. Otherwise the project will not succeed in practice. Thankfully there is a huge local awareness that the rainforest is an extremely valuable but diminishing resource as well as a global heritage that must be protected," says Jens Bach.

The project is part of a wider EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan which aims at negotiating Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) between tropical timber exporting countries and EU with the aim of reducing imports of illegal timber and timber products to Europe. This project aims at facilitating such an agreement between Indonesia and EU, and putting the agreement into reality at field level.

By Line Steenberg
Published: 01.03.2006