Battle brewing over forests and plantations in Papua
Jakarta Globe, 9 May 2010
 

Environmentalists are up in arms over the latest design for the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate in Papua, which they say will see more than 1.1 million hectares of forests converted into agricultural estates.

Jakarta-based Greenomics Indonesia said on Sunday that the latest proposal from the National Spatial Planning Coordination Agency, under the Ministry of Public Works, allocated 1.157 million hectares of primary or natural forests — areas that have not been logged before — to the planned Merauke food estate. This is 90.2 percent of the total 1.28 million hectares to be devoted to the estate.

“President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has encouraged world leaders to inject new economic logic into the development concept, where he underlined that keeping forests is much more beneficial than cutting them down,” said Elfian Effendi, executive director of Greenomics Indonesia........
 

Govt ready to facilitate Greenpeace case
Antara, 8 May 2010

 
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The agriculture ministry is ready to facilitate a meeting between Greenpeace and PT Sinar Mas Agro Resources & Technology Tbk. (PT SMART) to clarify issue on environmental destruction by oil palm plantations.

Bayu Krisnamurthi, deputy agriculture minister, said here, Friday, that in a meeting between Greenpeace activists and Agriculture Minister Suswono on Friday, the international environmental NGO said it did not oppose the oil palm plantations in Indonesia.

"They are not against oil palm, but against deforestation activities. They are also against illegal logging activities," Bayu Krisnamurthi said.

Greenpeace also opposed the conversion of peat land which was not in accordance with the government`s regulations, he said................
 

Criminal logging hurts climate and jobs: US Report
Jakarta Globe, 5 May 2010
 

Illegal logging in this country, a leading timber exporter, is threatening jobs in the US forest products industry and undermining efforts to use forests to fight climate change, according to a report by US labor and environmental groups.

The report, titled “Illegal logging in Indonesia, the environmental, economic and social costs,” lists numerous steps the country has taken to curb illegal logging but says much more must be done to end the corruption and demand that drive the trade.

“Illegal logging undermines the strength and sustainability of the forest products economy, both in Indonesia and the United States,” said the report by the BlueGreen Alliance, Sierra Club, United Steelworkers, Rainforest Action Network and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The practice here and in other nations distorted global timber prices, undercut sustainably manufactured products and jeopardized the jobs of US workers, the report said...............................

Old logging cases to get new look

Jakarta Globe, 1 May  2010
 

The Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force is likely to probe several illegal logging cases halted by police or prosecutors, including the controversial acquittal of businessman Adelin Lis, an official said on Friday.

“Many cases will now likely be re-examined for the possibility that they were not properly handled,” task force secretary Denny Indrayana said after meeting North Sumatra Police Chief Insp. Gen. Oegroseno and provincial chief prosecutor Sutiono Usman Aji.

Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Baharuddin Djafar told the Jakarta Globe that among the many illegal logging cases discussed at the meeting was that of Adelin.

The businessman was acquitted of illegal logging charges last year by the Medan District Court and fled the country before prosecutors could lodge an appeal, despite him being under a travel ban................

One billion trees program ‘verifiable’: Govt

The Jakarta Post , 9 February 2010
 

Adianto P. Simamora ,
The government on Monday defended its ambitious plan to plant 1 billion trees this year to check carbon emissions, saying the program would comply with international standards in which all trees must be verified on the ground.

Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said his office would allocate 500,000 hectares of land to plant about 500 million trees using the state budget. Each hectare will be planted with 100 trees.

“The remaining target will be shared between members of the industrial forest concessions [HTI].
But all the planted trees must be measured, reported and verified [MRV],” he told reporters on Monday.

He admitted that the much promoted tree-planting movement in previous years could not be verified because most trees were planted by the public in their own area.................

No conversion of virgin forest to food estate in Merauke: Govt

The Jakarta Post , 9 February 2010

Adianto P. Simamora ,

The ambitious plan to set up a large-scaled food production system in Merauke, Papua province, remained unclear as Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan insisted Monday he would not issue licenses to convert conservation and protected forests.

“I will not issue licenses to convert conservation and protected forests, even if for the food estate, if there are lot of trees there.”

The planned food estate, which would span 1.6 million hectares, is part of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s 100-day programs to promote national food sustainability.
Yudhoyono was slated to launch the project this month.

The Agriculture Ministry, which took the lead in the program, was criticized for failing to meet the target to complete the project’s preparation in 100 days..................

Cut forest mafia, activists told government

The Jakarta Post , 5 February 2010

Adianto P. Simamora ,

A coalition of activists called on the government to take stern action against forest mafia masterminds to combat corruption in the forest sector, which has caused financial loss to the country.

The activists, including Febri Diansyah and Ilian Deta Sari from Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), came to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Thursday to push the latter to investigate corruption in the forestry industry.

They said that government officials and businesspeople had damaged the country’s forest through illegal logging and license brokering for forest conversion.

“The government needs to root out masterminds of the forest mafia,” ICW coordinator Emerson Yunhto said Wednesday.............