Depressing picture of Indonesia's tropical forest

Rita A. Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua

If you wished to better understand the condition of Indonesia's tropical forests, you could imagine them as a person suffering fourth-stage cancer -- very sick and hopeless.

This almost desperate statement was uttered by the nation's No. 1 person in the Forestry Ministry. In reality, it is much worse on the ground.

For more than 40 years Indonesia's forests have been prolific gold mines for a handful of elites in government and the business community.

Their illicit practices, usually immune to existing legal instruments, have caused tremendous destruction to the rich 120 million hectares of natural forests in Indonesia over the last four decades.

Almost 60 million hectares worth of forests in the country have been seriously degraded due to massive logging operations, both legal and illegal. The vast replacement of natural forests with industrial and production areas has also contributed to the large-scale destruction.

Such exploitations of nature damage 2.8 million hectares of forests every year.

Excessive exploitation of Indonesia's forests has resulted in tremendous disasters, including floods, landslides and a choking haze, being inflicted upon the nation's people, in addition to over 70 million people living in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Southern Philippines and Southern Thailand. Such activities have caused irreparable damage to the environment.

"It will take 100 years to fully rehabilitate our degraded forests. The costs will be so huge it will be beyond our technical and financial capability," said Forestry Minister M.S. Kaban, adding that the current rehabilitation of 3 million hectares of forests had already absorbed US$190 million.

Pekka Patosaari, director of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF), told The Jakarta Post during the forum's Country-Led Initiative meeting here in Nusa Dua early this week that Indonesia was both a rich and poor country.

"Indonesia is very rich. The country has abundant natural resources but lacks proper management and controls. The country losses potential revenue that can be used to improve its people's welfare," Patosaari said.

Hans P. Hoogeveen, chairman of the UNFF-7 Bureau, said Indonesia had gained a significant level of international attention. "Indonesia's forests have been the world's most precious lung. International cooperation will be arranged to help this country manage its natural resources wisely and effectively," he said.

Indonesia has the third largest area of tropical forests in the world. The country's forests are home to 10 percent of the world's plants, 12 percent of its mammals and 17 percent of its bird species.

With this in mind, Indonesia's forests become one of the richest and most biologically diverse ecosystems in the world.

Unfortunately, few people have benefited from this potential. During the New Order era, beneficiaries of the Indonesian forests were those closest to then-president Soeharto. These included his children, and political and business cronies, as well as timber tycoons who had been granted concessions of more than 60 million hectares of forest land.

After the fall of Soeharto's regime, this list was extended to include new timber tycoons, governors and regents -- especially after regional autonomy was enforced in 2001.

"The government should not close its eyes to the bleak reality that there is a continuous joint effort from policy makers, business people, and military and police officials in exploiting Indonesian forests for their own benefits," the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) stated in a recent report.

The government, the report said, had failed to strictly control forestry and plantations for decades, adding that Indonesia's forestry management had been marred by corruption, incompetence and indifference.

Kaban admitted that despite efforts that have been made, the issue proved to be more complicated than was first thought. "There are many parties involved in the activities and their network has been extensive," he said.

Many "actors," or environmental criminals, continued to safely exist in the government bureaucracy, legislative bodies, the military and business. Drastic and brave action is sorely needed to bring these irresponsible and greedy people to justice in order to save the country's forests from enormous destruction.