Bogor – Indonesia's forests are disappearing at a rate of 4,000 hectares a day and the government appears to be unable to do anything about it, experts said.
"The situation is getting worse and we should do something," said Jeffrey Sayer, director general of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).
The center recently organised a seminar of conservationists, World Bank economists, logging industry representatives and government agencies in Bogor, southeast of the capital Jakarta, where the government's apparent inability to curb illegal logging was a focus of concern.
The country's massive jungles and rain forests are second only to the Amazon in terms of area and are home to some of the rarest animals in the world.
Their exploitation has been an "important contributor to growth" for Indonesia's struggling economy, according to a World Bank report published at the conference. But the bank warned: "Its overall outcome, rapid deforestation and highly inequitable distribution of benefits, is highly unsatisfactory."
It said the logging was benefiting "the same few conglomerates" and "has subordinated the traditional rights of indigenous forest dwellers and communities." This "has resulted in conflict and created one of the most serious social problems facing Indonesia at present," the report said.
The annual legal production of logs is 21.4 million cubic metres, in line with the forests' ability to regenerate, but actual production is more than three times that at some 77.9 million cubic metres, according to the report. That's about 1.5 million hectares of forest which disappear every year, mostly to make way for quick yield palm plantations.
The felled trees feed demand for wood products, especially paper and plywood. The mills, built by major companies with the help of international loans which they either cannot or will not repay, are monitored by the Indonesian Bank Reconstruction Agency (IBRA).
The IBRA is in charge of billions of dollars of assets but has come under fire for being driven by narrow political or commercial interests. Government and IBRA officials taking part in the conference ruled out closing the mills for economic and social reasons.
They face "a very bleak future but there is no consensus on the closing of the mills," said an economist, adding that the debts of the sector in the IBRA portfolio amounted to some eight billion dollars. "It is a highly political debate," he added.
Participants in the seminar noted the efforts of the new Indonesian administration to allow for greater indigenous participation in the exploitation of the forest's riches.
But they were in agreement that this in itself did not consitute a guarantee that they would be better protected. "A form of central control is probably needed," noted the CIFOR's Sayer. "Some form of resource transfer or compensation may well be needed to induce local communities and regional governments to retain their forests intact," said the World Bank.
Uma Lele, one of the authors of the World Bank report, said "there is a major gap between international expectations of how the tropical forests must be managed and the expectations of the local communities for their immediate benefits."