Jakarta – The Indonesian government will not extend any logging contracts until a survey is conducted of all forest concessions, Forestry Minister Muhammad Prakosa said Monday.

"The forest concession contracts will be postponed until we can obtain an overall picture ... there are currently about 80 to 100 forest concession extension demands on my desk," Prakosa said after meeting Vice President Hamzah Haz.

The minister, quoted by the state Antara news agency, said extensions would not be issued until the review of all concessions, to be conducted by an independent institution starting in April, was completed. There are currently some 375 forest concessions in Indonesia compared to some 600 during the 1980s, he said.

Prakosa said the review could not be delayed any longer because it was necessary to manage and plan the exploitation of forests in a sustainable manner. The government, he said, will also implement a requirement that all logging concerns get a certificate for their logs that confirms they came from a sustainably managed concession.

The World Bank in a 2000 report on forestry said that between 1997 and 1998, Indonesia harvested 60 million cubic metres of timber, or three times the level for a sustainable system.