Case Study of Indonesia

Research has shown that on 1999-2000, Indonesia is ranked second for the most amount

of forest cover lost in the world. An overwhelming 5,065 square miles of forest cover

was lost within that year. Indonesia has had a huge and biodiverse forest since the

country was founded and its amazing forest has continued to grow until the 1950. After

the next 50 years of 1950, the forest has lost 40 percent of its forest cover. An estimated

fall from 162 million hectare to 98 million hectare of forest land was lost. And the trend

of such lost is not only continuing, but it is accelerating. A lost of 1 million hectare per

year increased to 1.7 million hectare per year from 1980s to the early 1990s. After 1996,

rate of forest lost has increased to 2 million hectare per year. Indonesia is at risks of

losing its rich timber resource and a great forest with all the organisms living in it if the

deforestation trend does not stop. Deforestation has already caused forests in Sulawesi

to be almost entirely cleared. Predictions are made for Sumatra to loss its entire forest in

2005 and Kalimantan in 2010 if the trend continues.

Causes:

Corrupt political and economical systems are the main causes for deforestation in

Indonesia. These systems regard resources, such as forests, as a source of revenue for

political and individual gains. Logging concessions covering more than half the country’s

total forest area were awarded by former President Suharto, many of them to his relatives

and political allies. Cronyism in the forestry sector left timber companies free to operate

with little regard for long-term sustainability of production.

Timber in the forest is a very valued resource thus companies are trying many ways to

get their hands on them for production of their products. Therefore a reward system is

created to favored companies. Companies could be rewarded to at least 16 hectare of

timber resource from the government. The land is also given to the company which gives

them right for timber or agriculture plantations.

An increase of paper and pulp products over the last few decades increased the demand

for wood fiber. The demand is too great for any current sustainable domestic forest

management regime.

Another cause would be farming in the country however this is not a dormant factor.

Illegal logging has become a main cause of deforestation in Indonesia. Although illegal

logging has not been properly documented but former senior official of the Ministry of

Forestry has claimed that theft and illegal logging have destroyed an estimated 10 million

ha of Indonesian forests. Due to the increasing demands for wood fiber, illegal logging

allows people to earn an income and selling the wood for wood fiber. Plus, the demand

for wood is too high for legal means to obtain. To increase production and resources,

companies uses illegal logging to close the differences between the wood they had

obtained legally and the demand for wood.

The increase in demand for wood is caused by subsidizes and promotion from Industrial

timber plantations. Thus in practice, millions of hectares of natural forest has been

cleared to make way for plantations that, in 75 percent of cases, are never actually

planted.

Not only did deforestation activities create threats of destroying the forest, reforestation

programs are not set up to try to revive the forest. Millions of hectares of land was

planned to be naturally development in allocated for development as industrial timber

plantations. Yet only fractions of what is allocated are used for reforestation and have

actually been planted with fast-growing species, mostly Acacia mangium, to produce

pulpwood. Millions hectare of lands are left idling, empty and not used.

The Indonesian government is trying to help by implementing policies for the protection

of the forest but with complications locally and internationally caused when actions

are taken stuns them from trying to do more. And the policies implemented are not

effective and efficient thus things are never totally curbed. Numerous forest-dependent

communities, sensing the weakening of central power, have erupted violently against

logging and plantation operations that they consider to be plundering their local

resources. Longstanding problems of unclear land tenure rights are the root cause of

many such conflicts. The government is no longer willing to protect corporate interests

as it once did, but neither does it appear to have any coordinated plan for dealing with the

problem.

References:

http://www.globalforestwatch.org/english/indonesia/forests.htm

http://www.wrm.org.uy/deforestation/Asia/Indonesia.html

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2002/timber_mafia/resources/

resources_indonesia.htm