Jakarta – Greenpeace Wednesday called on the leaders of Indonesia and Britain to adopt laws to help halt the destruction of Indonesia's last ancient forests, ahead of the arrival of Tony Blair for a one-day visit.

The environmental watchdog said the forests, part of the so-called Paradise Forests of the Asia-Pacific, were disappearing faster than any others on earth, fuelled by demand in the European Union, United States, Japan and China.

In 2004 Britain was Indonesia's largest trading partner in Europe for timber products, importing some 121 million euros (145 million dollars) worth of timber products, Greenpeace said in a statement.

"Prime Minister Blair and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will talk about security threats, but they should not forget that one of the most serious threats to Indonesia is the destruction of our forests from which up to 50 million Indonesians rely for food and livelihood," forestry campaigner Hapsoro said.

"The UK must lead the European Union in putting together legal mechanisms that prohibit the entry of timber and timber products that come from illegal and destructive logging operations in Indonesia," he said in the statement.

Indonesia and Europe have entered into negotiations on a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), which aims to prevent imports of illegally logged timber into the European market from Indonesia, Greenpeace said.

Indonesia and Europe should also address the issue of illegally logged timber being laundered through third countries such as China and Malaysia, which is not dealt with in the VPA and should be, Hapsoro added.

Indonesia has already lost more than 72 percent of its large intact ancient forest areas and 40 percent of its forests have been completely destroyed.

A Greenpeace report released Tuesday said China played a central role in laundering illegal timber from the Asia Pacific, with much of the supply coming from illegally felled logs in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.