Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The international environmental group Greenpeace, which is renowned for its confrontational stance towards governments, has been invited by Indonesia to help fight illegal logging, in a sign that Jakarta is getting desperate to prevent the widespread destruction of its environment.

Environment Minister Nabiel Makarim said the fight to contain illegal logging here was as difficult to stop as the drug trade in the United States, and it could not be fought only from within Indonesia.

Indonesia's illegal logging industry is estimated to be worth around US$5 billion per year. "We asked Greenpeace to help stop it because there is a parallel with drugs fighting in the US. The US cannot get the Colombians to stop producing drugs if the demand on the streets is still there. As long as other countries buy our illegal timber we cannot stop it," Mr Nabiel told The Straits Times.

He invited Greenpeace on the sidelines of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Bali. The group welcomed the invitation to assist Indonesia. "Greenpeace will try to track the shipment of illegal logs," said its spokesman Remi Peremier.

No details were forthcoming on how the environmental group would be tracking the shipments heading out or whether it would be heading to Indonesia's rainforests to check on the destruction there.

He said Greenpeace would try to pressure Western markets into buying only timber that came from forests which had been managed sustainably.

A recent World Bank Study said that all of Sumatra's forests would be destroyed by logging in five years, while those in Kalimantan would be destroyed in 10 years.

Local environmental groups called on the Indonesian government to close the markets to the biggest buyers of Indonesia's timber. "If they want to stop illegal logging they should close the markets for Singapore and Malaysia as they are the largest buyers of Indonesian timber, and then close sales to Japan, Taiwan and South Korea," said Ms Emmy Hafild from the environmental group Wahli.

But she said the timber sold to these markets came with a certificate – thus appearing to be legal.

Corruption within the police, the armed forces, and forestry and ports officials allows for huge amounts of illegal timber to be sold and shipped throughout Asia.

Mr Nabiel said that in February, Indonesia put in place a temporary ban on the export of all logs to halt the flow of illegal timber. "Now anything going outside the country is illegal, so we are asking countries not to buy Indonesian logs," he said.