Indonesia: 550,000 ha of forestland in W. Nusa Tenggara in critical condition

Panca Nugraha The Jakarta Post 5 Oct 16;

About 550,000 hectares of forestland or half all the forests in West Nusa Tenggara are in critical condition because of illegal logging, a top official said Tuesday.

“We recorded 555,427 hectares of forestland in the province in critical condition. This is 52 percent of our total forests. The causes are illegal logging, illegal trade and encroachment,” West Nusa Tenggara Forestry Agency head Husnanindiaty Nurdin said.

The province has recorded a total of 1.07 million hectares of forestland, comprising protected forests (449,141 ha or 41.91 percent), production forests (448,946 ha or 41.89 percent) and conservation forests (173,636 ha or 16.2 percent). Of the 555,427 ha, 157,358 ha are in severely critical condition.

Husnanindiaty said the office had uncovered at least 146 cases of illegal logging from 2011 to 2015. “In 2016 until September, we found 27 cases,” she said.

From the 27 cases, 33 trucks carrying logs, 313 cubic meters of processed wood and more than 3,700 logs were confiscated.

She said her office lacked human resources to monitor forests. “One forest ranger monitors 13,000 ha of forestland,” she went on. (evi)