Indonesia: Forests may be gone in 35 years' time
South-east Asia suffered the highest rate of deforestation in the world over the past 20 years. Asia's growing prosperity is putting pressure on its remaining forest lands. A look at the battle to save its trees.
Zubaidah Nazeer Straits Times 23 Feb 11;
JAKARTA: Imagine 400 football fields of trees disappearing during the duration of a soccer match. That was the rate of deforestation in Indonesia just years ago, between 2000 and 2006.
After bans by European countries on imports of illegally logged timber products, the rate of destruction has halved - to about 1 million hectares a year. But this is still considered high, and urgent action is needed, say researchers, analysts and environmental activists. If nothing is done, Indonesia's unprotected natural forests will be depleted in about 35 years, said Mr Bustar Maitar of Greenpeace Indonesia.
The consequences have been stark. In the 1950s, over 85 per cent of the country was forested land. Today, it is down to under 47 per cent, according to World Bank figures.
Forests are a source of fresh oxygen. The trees and the soil under them also absorb a huge amount of climate-warming carbon dioxide. When large swathes of forests are felled, the chemical exchanges are disrupted, the locked-in carbon is released into the atmosphere, and climate change is sped up.
In 2007, local NGO Pelangi Energi Abadi Citra Enviro - whose report was funded by the World Bank and the UK Department for International Development - ranked Indonesia as the third largest carbon emitter in the world, after the US and China.
Most of Indonesia's deforestation occurs in areas like Jambi, South Sumatra, West and Central Kalimantan, Riau, and Papua in East Indonesia.
Activists say there is no accurate map showing the extent of the deforestation because of incomplete information given by local provinces, and the inaccessibility of the archipelago's remote and rugged terrain. Satellite imagery is also hindered by heavy cloud cover throughout the year.
But what is clear is that deforestation began as early as the 1960s, when the export of timber was seen as a quick way of bringing in revenue. With few regulations, illegal logging soon grew out of hand, said Dr Maria Monica Wihardja, an associate research fellow at Indonesia's Centre for International and Strategic Studies.
By the late 1990s, an estimated three million hectares of forest land were being cleared each year, said Dr Krystof Obidzinski at the Centre for International Forestry Research. Decentralised approval of land permits and rampant corruption made it harder to stop runaway forest destruction. Also, large- scale clearing by fire, with its resulting haze, added to the environmental damage.
The cost has manifested itself in other ways.
Animal life has been affected. For example, reports estimated the number of orang utans in Borneo has dropped by over half in the past 60 years, with the loss of their habitat. In Sumatra, their number is just one-fifth of what it was 75 years ago.
At least 78 rivers have reportedly been polluted by activities from palm oil plantations that displaced the forests, disrupting the supply of water to those living nearby.
'There have been cases of increased flooding in some areas which previously had forests because plantations do not have water retention ability like the forest trees,' said Dr Krystof.
Mass logging by timber companies and oil palm plantations has also displaced the Orang Rimba people who live in Sumatra's Jambi forest. With their homes gone, they have had to be relocated to a state-controlled park.
Jakarta has sought to rein in the problem by amending forestry regulations several times since the 1980s. But experts say these efforts are being undercut by strong lobby groups, corruption, loopholes in the law, and simply, a lack of monitoring and implementation.
A Human Rights Watch report released last month estimated that Indonesia lost US$2 billion (S$2.6 billion) a year from 2003 to 2006 to illegal logging, unpaid taxes as well as hidden subsidies for timber companies. That figure did not include the billions likely lost each year from unreported timber smuggled abroad.
Surging prices for coal and other minerals have also intensified pressure to clear more forest land for mining, said Dr Maria.
Lax law enforcement is also making efforts to save Indonesia's forests harder. A Chatham House report last July noted that while Indonesia has made great improvement in cracking down on illegal logging, enforcement has been poor, with only a quarter of illegal logging cases successfully prosecuted.
A renewed effort is under way to preserve forest lands through a United Nations scheme called Redd (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation).
Through Redd, Norway has pledged to give Indonesia up to US$1 billion if it can prove a reduction in its carbon emissions and halt deforestation.
How successful it will be is still unclear, given the complex network of economic conditions influencing deforestation, the multiple stakeholders involved, and the perennial problem of corruption.
Said the Nature Conservancy's Dr Dicky Simorangki: 'People are still struggling to understand how it works. There has to be an institutional framework, legal mechanisms as well as administrative ones, and a decision over who gets what in the financial incentives.'
Dr Krystof said: 'It's a good concept, but let's see how well and how far it can be implemented.'
Conservation scheme: On or not?
Straits Times 23 Feb 11;
A SCHEME to save Indonesia's trees by imposing a two-year national moratorium on forest clearing has run into problems.
Indonesia signed on to the moratorium last year as part of a broader UN programme to reward developing countries for keeping their forests intact.
The UN plan - Redd (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) - calls for Indonesia to impose a two-year ban on new concessions to clear forests and peatlands. In return, Norway will pay Indonesia US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion).
But for the moratorium to be legally binding from its Jan 1 start date, it must be backed by a presidential decree, which has not been issued yet, the Jakarta Globe reported last week. What is more, the Civil Society Organisation Common Platform, which includes the groups Greenpeace South-east Asia and the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), says that even if enforced, the moratorium may not protect more forested areas as claimed.
'Only 41 million hectares will be protected, but these are already categorised as conservation and protected areas,' Mr Teguh Surya, head of international liaison and climate justice at Walhi, said.
The confusion arises because there are two versions of the draft presidential decree, one submitted by the Forestry Ministry and the other by the Redd task force, appointed by the president.
The ministry's version states the moratorium should apply only to primary forests and peatlands, while the other version says secondary forests in peat areas should also be included, the Globe reported.
The Redd scheme - which some palm oil and pulp and paper firms fear would hurt their expansion plans - will kick off in Central Kalimantan.
But even before the scheme begins, complications have set in, with carbon brokers reportedly trying to manipulate the system by signing deals with provincial or district governments in East Kalimantan, Papua and Aceh.
Mr Fitrian Ardiansyah, programme director for climate and energy at World Wildlife Fund Indonesia, told the Globe: 'They say, 'Sign this. For 100,000ha for Redd, you will get US$2 per hectare.' But you're not supposed to count the hectares, you count the carbon.'
Dr Dicky Simorangkir, forest programme director at The Nature Conservancy, told The Straits Times: 'People are still unsure how this works. How do you measure carbon emission? All these have not been laid out.'
Analysts say that for the Redd scheme to succeed, the carbon reduction targets set out by the government must be followed up with clearer and more detailed benchmarks.
Mr Bustar Matiar, a forest campaigner at Greenpeace, said: 'This will be a big fight... The enthusiasm is there, but it is up to the government to make it happen.'
ZUBAIDAH NAZEER
Malaysia: Conservation and development in tug-of-war
Carolyn Hong Straits Times 23 Feb 11;
KUALA LUMPUR: A recent report by an international environmental group flagging the alarming rate of deforestation in Sarawak did not surprise local activists - they have been saying the same thing for years.
'If we look into the pattern of deforestation over the years, the only pristine areas left are probably the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries,' said Mr Raymond Abin Bira, coordinator of the Sarawak Conservation Action Network, which groups 16 green non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the state.
One result, he said, has been landslides resulting from the felling of trees, which contributes to soil erosion. Last year, tonnes of logs were washed into Sarawak rivers in a landslip, causing the Rajang River to be impassable for days.
The deforestation received fresh attention recently when Wetlands International, an NGO based in the Netherlands, used satellite images to show large swathes of peatland being converted to oil palm plantations.
About 10 per cent of Sarawak, or 1.28 million ha, is peatland.
Wetlands International said two-thirds of it had been forested, but from 2005 to last year, almost 353,000ha were cleared.
'In just five years, almost 10 per cent of all Sarawak's forests and 33 per cent of the peat swamp forests have been cleared,' it said in its Feb 1 report. Of these, 65 per cent was for oil palm plantations, it added.
It warned that at this rate, the whole of Sarawak's peatland may be gone in 10 years, as they come under increasing pressure for agricultural land.
The tug-of-war between conservation and development is intense given the stakes: Malaysia produces 40 per cent of the world's palm oil in an industry that is worth RM60 billion (S$25 billion) and provides 600,000 jobs.
It is the world's second-largest producer after Indonesia, and palm oil has been identified as one of the key growth areas under Malaysia's new economic plans to help double incomes in a decade.
Currently, about 4 million ha nationwide are planted with oil palm. But as land runs out in the peninsula, plantations have moved to East Malaysia where Sarawak's plantations are growing the fastest.
Last November, Sarawak Land Development Minister James Masing told The Star that the state could be the country's largest palm oil producer by the end of this decade.
Mr Balu Perumal, a botanist with the regional NGO, Global Environmental Facility, said there is now great pressure on 'marginal areas' such as wetlands as the prime growing areas have mostly been taken up.
Peatland is a type of wetland where the soil is made up of organic matter, unlike mineral soil. As it is permanently waterlogged, it has to be drained for planting.
This makes it difficult and expensive to convert to agricultural use, but despite the costs, it is not just in Sarawak that peatland is fast turning into plantations.
According to another report by Wetlands International last year, there are 281,000ha of peat soil under cultivation in the peninsula, 72 per cent of which is planted with oil palm.
All in all, about 20 per cent of Malaysia's palm oil is produced on peatland. But in Sarawak, the figure is 44 per cent, it added.
This has dismayed some conservationists. Mr Balu said peatland, even including the logged areas, should be left alone. Clearing it releases vast amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Drained peatland is also easily combustible during dry spells, making it a fire hazard and a cause of noxious haze.
What's more, Malaysia's peat swamp forests are home to many endangered species, such as the Borneo pygmy elephant, the Sumatran rhino and the Bornean clouded leopard. The waters of the peat swamps are also known for the highest numbers of freshwater fish species in the world. Clearing the peatland puts their habitats and existence in jeopardy.
For these reasons, conservationists are raising the alarm and fighting to stop the deforestation. Mr Balu's organisation, for example, is lobbying the Selangor government to cancel plans to turn a 900ha peat swamp called Kuala Langat South into an oil palm estate.
Both the federal and Sarawak ministers in charge of oil palm could not be reached for comment, but they have previously said Malaysia is working to strike a balance.
At present, only 157,000ha out of 4 million ha of oil palm plantations have been certified as sustainable by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an industry-NGO association created in 2004.
But its secretary-general, Mr Darrel Webber, said interest in sustainability is growing rapidly because of greater consumer awareness. Most of the big Malaysian plantations such as Sime Darby Plantation and IOI Group are already members, joining the likes of global companies such as P&G, Nestle, Johnson & Johnson and The Body Shop.
Its members pledge not to plant in high-conservation-value areas. These may include peatland, depending on the type of flora and fauna there, how the native community uses it, and if it is covered by primary forest.
Audits are conducted regularly on members, all the way along the supply chain, said Mr Webber. All audited findings are made available for public viewing and comment. When members fail to comply, they are asked to rectify areas where they fall short.
Mr Webber declined to comment on details of the Wetlands International report, but said it was worrying if it was accurate.
The fact remains that while RSPO member-retailers are stepping up plans to buy palm oil from plantations certified as sustainable, robust demand from India and China for unsustainably sourced oil means others can still avoid doing so. Big bucks or biodiversity? The battle over Sarawak's forests continues.
Philippines: Ban on logging in natural forests
Alastair McIndoe Straits Times 23 Feb 11;
MANILA: Timber harvesting in natural forests in the Philippines was banned indefinitely this month in a presidential order to prevent the destructive flooding and landslides linked to logging.
The ban came after weeks of heavy rain unleashed severe flooding in several regions that claimed the lives of 47 people, forced over a million people into evacuation centres and caused damage to crops and property worth about $35 million.
Under the new logging restrictions, announced on Feb 1, timber may be harvested only in tree plantations. In essence, explained Environment Secretary Ramon Paje: 'You cannot harvest what you did not plant.'
Conservationists welcomed the ban but worry about how effective it will be in a country with powerful logging interests and weak law implementation. 'This will certainly be a test of Aquino's resolve,' Greenpeace's country representative Mark Dia said of President Benigno Aquino.
The Philippines - once covered by lush rainforests - was ranked the world's fourth-most threatened forested region in a biogeographical survey this month by Conservation International, a Washington-based environmental group.
The top three hot spots were Indo-Burma, New Caledonia and Sundaland, a region covering the Malay peninsula and the islands of Borneo, Java and Sumatra.
In the early 1950s, the Philippines had 15 million ha of forests covering around half the archipelago's land mass. By 1997, there were just 5.4 million ha.
Since then, reforestation programmes have raised the coverage to 7.2 million ha, according to current Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) data.
Plantations - the only areas where logging is now legal - cover 330,000 ha of total forested land.
President Aquino's move is not the first to tackle the problem. To reduce deforestation, timber exports were banned in 1989 by his mother, former president Corazon Aquino - and the ban has not been lifted since then.
But exports of furniture and woodcrafts have grown strongly in recent years, totalling US$1.1 billion (S$1.4 billion) last year, up 23 per cent from 2009. Domestically, timber is used mainly in the furniture and construction industries, with the latter posting growth of 22.6 per cent last year.
To what extent logging is to blame for flooding and landslides has long been intensely debated here. Climate change was certainly seen as a major factor in the unseasonally heavy rain that hit parts of the country earlier this year. But there is plenty of evidence, too, that degradation of forested areas contributed to landslides and flooding over the years.
Among the debris flushed down a mountainside in the flash floods that killed more than 6,000 people in the central Philippine town of Ormoc in November 1991 were hundreds of logs and shipping containers full of cut timber.
The ban on logging in natural forests also mandated the creation of a government task force to lead the fight against illegal logging. Mr Dia says there is an acute shortage of forest rangers, with just one patrolling 4,000 ha of forested land.
There are no official estimates on the extent of illegal timber harvesting by small-scale farmers and logging syndicates. But a published source cited in a 2008 report on global illegal logging by the United States' Congressional Research Service estimated that up to 45 per cent of logging in the Philippines is illegal.
Illegal logging carries a maximum penalty of 20 years' jail. Ms Marilea Muniez of Code Red Philippines, which works with forest-based communities, said small-scale loggers get convicted from time to time, but there have been no recent cases of a big-time illegal logger being convicted.
The wood industry not surprisingly opposes the ban, and has warned of heavy job losses - around 650,000 people work in wood processing - and an increased reliance on timber imports, which account for around half of the timber used here.
But administration officials say Mr Aquino will not budge. 'This is an investment in our country's future and the environment,' said presidential spokesman Ricky Carandang. 'There is no intention to back off.'
Environmental issues appear to be an increasingly prominent part of the Aquino administration's agenda. Earlier this month, Mr Aquino announced that no new mining permits would be issued on the mineral-rich western island of Palawan, where the country's last primary rainforests grow.
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