Updated Study Shows Massive Losses From Indonesia’s Forestry Graft

Suzannah Beiner Jakarta Globe 16 Jul 13;

Mismanagement and corruption has cost Indonesia’s forestry industry an estimated US$7 billion in lost revenue between 2007 and 2011, according to a Human Rights Watch report released on Monday.

The report, an update of the 2009 HRW report “Wild Money,” highlights the disconnect between the country’s revamped forestry policies and uncontrolled forest fires, causing harmful smog in Indonesia and neighboring countries.

Indonesia’s most recent forestry reforms have been hailed as a part of the government’s commitment to a sustainable “green growth” model.

However, new laws have been criticized for not being tough enough on the very violations they are supposed to deter.

The House of Representative’s approval last Tuesday of the Law on Preventing and Eradicating Forest Destruction, an amendment to the 1999 law, was the latest of such measures.

The new law notably focuses on large-scale, systematic destruction to forests.

HRW called the steps “manifestly inadequate” in addressing undocumented logging and illegally set fires.

“The return of the smog is only the most tangible evidence of the damage from Indonesia’s continuing failure to effectively manage its forests,” HRW deputy program director Joe Saunders said.

Less readily evident but equally damaging to the government’s claim of pursuing a “green growth” model, are records of a very red budget.

HRW places the loss in revenue for 2011 alone at more than $2 billion, a figure greater than Indonesia’s entire health budget for the year.

Additionally, the new report details the government’s lack of transparency concerning forestry practices.

The government has imposed stricter limitations on information accessible to independent organizations.

This has particularly affected government and environmental watchdog organizations.

The most-recently passed laws affecting the activities of nongovernmental groups include tighter definitions of legally permissible activities, restricted access to foreign funding and the government’s ability to disband groups posing a threat to the “national interest.”

Forest communities have perhaps been the hardest hit by the government’s practices.

Forest communities have constitutionally recognized rights to use surrounding land or receive compensation upon their destruction. But a new certification system may not honor those rights because the system itself fails to determine whether the timber harvested is collected in violation of communities’ rights.

The government’s failure to address compensatory issues has led to land disputes between villagers and palm oil companies.

The limited land available for palm oil companies’ expansion has led to an increase in violence.

In 2011, a land dispute erupted into a violent clash leaving two farmers and seven palm oil employees dead after the villagers’ complaints went unresolved in the Mesuji sub-district of South Sumatra.

The increase in conflict has created an increased military presence to handle disputes.

“The Indonesian government has been selling the expansion of its forestry sector as an example of sustainable ‘green growth’ and an antidote to climate change and poverty, but the evidence suggests otherwise,” Saunders said.