Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandar Lampung – Dozens of illegal sawmills around Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park in West Lampung, which had stopped operating during the past several months, are again processing timber from the park and nearby community-owned resin plantations, environmentalists say.
Resin plantation owners are reportedly selling their trees to the sawmills because of financial hardships and the impacts of modernization.
Environmental groups including the Lampung chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), Worldwide Fund for Nature, Watala and Lampung Conservation Watch (LCW), have blamed the sawmills for much of the damage in the national park, and have urged the government to shut them down permanently.
LCW director Joko Santoso said the sawmills in West Lampung were operating illegally, and there was no reason not to close them. He said the head of the Lampung Forestry Office had ordered the closure of the sawmills on Nov. 15, 2005, because their licenses had expired.
"The facts show that 12 sawmills are still operating in West Lampung as of today. The timber that they process is without a doubt derived from illegal logging in the park," said Joko Santoso on Thursday.
Sawmills in Krui and Lemong districts near the park reportedly obtained permits from the Lampung Cooperatives, Trade and Industry Office.
A 2004 forestry ministry decree stipulates that the governor has the authority to issue permits to timber companies producing less than 6,000 cubic meters of timber per year, while the Forestry Ministry must issue permits to companies producing above that volume.
"I'm sure every sawmill in Lampung is illegal, because none of them have acquired permits from the governor or the minister. This is ironic because the West Lampung regent, as well as several other regents in Lampung, have signed a moratorium on logging," said Joko.
The director of the Lampung office of Walhi, Mukri Friatna, said that sawmills and forestry documents had been exploited to legalize illegally felled timber.
"The timber is taken from the park but is then made 'legal' because timber businessmen have legal forestry documents and permits for exploiting timber from community forests," he said.
According to Mukri, there are several reasons why sawmills in Lampung are exploited to legalize illegal timber.
First, the only legal source of timber in Lampung is community forests, and their varieties are limited.
"However, high-quality timber, such as merbau, tenam and kruing, which are no longer found in community forests, can be bought at shops selling timber," Mukri said.
Second, legal timber in Lampung has become very limited. However, the province is known to regularly send timber to other provinces.
Of the 115,284 cubic meters of timber produced in West Lampung from January to June, 2005, Banten acquired 44 percent, followed by West Java with 32 percent and Jakarta with 11 percent. "Only 7 percent of the timber was sold in Lampung," Joko said.
Meanwhile, an activist from the Resin Farm Owners Group, Kurniadi, said the impact of illegal logging in West Lampung had extended to community resin farms.
According to him, illegal loggers have started buying resin trees from residents at cheap prices. Timber from the resin trees is then sold at higher prices.
"Sawn resin timber is actually used to trick the authorities when offenders are transporting illegal timber. They usually place the resin timber at the back and on top of a truck, hiding the illegal logs inside. This way, they can transport illegal timber out of Lampung because the trade in resin wood is legal," Kurniadi said.