Indonesia is failing to stop illegal logging

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http://www.planetsave.com/ViewStory.asp?ID=3526

 

Indonesia is failing to stop illegal logging

1/14/03

 

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) _ Corruption in Indonesia's

police and military has contributed to a surge in

illegal logging that has destroyed much of the

country's forests, an environmental group said in a

report released Tuesday.

 

The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency

called on foreign donors to consider tying future

assistance to proof that the Indonesian government is

cracking down on illegal logging. It urged President

Megawati Sukarnoputri to take the lead in fighting

corruption.

 

``The president must give leadership and support to

those in her government who are trying to stop illegal

logging by proactively tackling the blatant corruption

that blocks all progress,'' said Dave Currey, director

of the EIA.

 

Until now, illegal logging has gone mostly unchecked

in Indonesia despite repeated assertions by foreign

donors and environmental groups that the country's

virgin rain forest could be destroyed by 2005.

Environmental groups estimate that as much as 70

percent of the logs exported are illegal, including an

increasing number from the country's national parks,

and that 70 percent of the country's forests has been

destroyed.

 

The report, titled ``Above The Law: Corruption,

Collusion, Nepotism and the Fate of Indonesia's

Forests,'' comes a week before a key meeting of

international donors known as the Consultative Group

on Indonesia that will discuss future assistance.

Among the topics on its agenda is the management of

the country's remaining forests.

 

The report alleges that the military _through its

private businesses _ has logged illegally and operated

saw mills to pay the daily expenses of troops. The

military has long denied being involved in illegal

logging.

 

It says the police and the courts have failed to

prosecute illegal loggers, even when other Indonesian

agencies, including the Ministry of Forestry and navy,

intervened.

 

Indonesia has taken steps to curb illegal logging,

including an export ban announced last year and

discussions of swaps of outstanding national debt for

money that would go to environmental programs.

 

But most of the efforts have been derailed by

corruption, the report says.

 

It says investigators from the EIA _ an independent

group which investigates environmental crime _ have

complained since 1999 about illegal logging in Tanung

Puting National Park, but nothing significant has been

done beyond promises from local government officials.

 

``Loggers have always returned to the park and

destruction continues today,'' the report says. ``Vast

tracts of the park have been affected and a commercial

infrastructure of log rails, logging camps and log

ponds have been developed across the park. The

situation is worse today than it was in 1999.''

 

 

 

 

 

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