Indonesia warned on natural resource exploitation

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http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2001/12/12242001/reu_indonesia_45956.asp

 

Indonesia warned on natural resource exploitation

 

Monday, December 24, 2001

By Reuters

 

JAKARTA--Exploitation of Indonesia's vast natural

resources is spinning out of control, with illegal

operations damaging the environment and societies in

ways that increase the risk of communal conflict, a

report said on Friday.

 

The report by the Brussels-based International Crisis

Group (ICG) said since the downfall of former

President Suharto in 1998 there had been an upsurge in

illegal logging, mining and fishing as various parties

struggled for control of the lucrative trade.

 

Illegal activities are protected and in some case

organized by bureaucrats and the security forces, with

the military and police deeply involved in illegal

logging, it said.

 

" The exploitation of Indonesia's natural resources is

running out of control...In the case of logging, the

problem is so serious that it threatens to destroy

some of Indonesia's largest forests within a decade, "

the ICG said, while noting there were also scattered

signs of hope for the industry.

 

It recommended donors consider linking future loans to

the curbing of illegal exploitation if vested

interests kept blocking reform of a vital revenue

earning sector for the government.

 

The exploitation of resources such as timber and

minerals during Suharto's three-decade autocratic rule

was dominated by firms with strong political

connections.

 

With the backing of powerful patrons in Jakarta, these

firms paid little heed to the environment or local

peoples, stoking resentment that has periodically

erupted into violence.

 

The report said timber felling in Central Kalimantan

province combined with the lack of respect for local

communities, while not the ultimate cause, had created

conditions for clashes earlier this year that left

some 500 people dead when indigenous Dayaks fought

Madurese settlers from an island off Java.

 

FRUSTRATION AND ANGER

 

The report said deforestation of Kalimantan since the

1970s had created frustration and anger among Dayaks

who had previously lived in the forests, while at the

same time building a timber industry that had

attracted migrants from across Indonesia.

 

Madurese were the main victims of the violence, part

of periodic communal clashes that have haunted some

areas of Indonesia since it plunged into economic

crisis four years ago.

 

" There is a risk that the current struggle to control

natural resources could also lead to conflicts, " said

the report.

 

Citing U.N. figures, it said Indonesia had the world's

third largest expanse of tropical forest after Brazil

and the Democratic Republic of Congo, but this was

shrinking rapidly.

 

Precise figures on total forest area were not

available.

 

Large deposits of copper, gold, tin, coal and nickel

also dot Indonesia, but companies often complain of

illegal mining.

 

Rampant illegal mining of tin recently prompted the

world's largest integrated tin producer, Indonesia's

state-run PT Timah, to warn it might not survive much

longer.

 

The ICG report said graft and apathy ran deep among

some bureaucrats responsible for regulating resource

use, while profits drawn from the trade were an

important source of operational funds for the security

forces.

 

" The Indonesian military and police are deeply

involved in illegal logging, " the report said.

 

Asked by Reuters about the accusations, police

spokesman Brigadier-General Saleh Saaf said police

elements might be involved in illegal logging, adding

that operations to crack down on the trade were often

constrained because of lack of funds.

 

The scattered signs of hope included a firmer line

taken by the Department of Forestry against illegal

loggers and the dedication to the cause of some

non-governmental organisations.

 

But the report said while reform-minded officials had

begun winning victories against illegal loggers in

particular, the problem was huge, with the biggest

obstacle probably graft.

 

Copyright 2001, Reuters

 

 

 

 

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