http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4500&Itemid=202
Indonesia's Forests Remain a Source of Conflict
Written by IRIN
Monday, 14 May 2012
A teak forest in central Java. Photo by Murdani Usman/CIFOR
Teak producer on Java's contentious relationship with forest peoples
The world’s largest producer of teak, an Indonesian state-owned company
on the island of Java, has again been awarded sustainable forest management
certification. But the company has a long and sometimes contentious
relationship with forest communities in the area, and the forest rights of
indigenous communities remain a potential cause of conflict.
“Land rights have long been a source of violence on Java,” Rhett Butler,
a leading environmentalist and creator of a leading environmental news website
told IRIN. Perhutani (Indonesian state forestry company) exploits 2.4 million
hectares of forests in Java - 7 percent of the island area - with earnings of
around US$400 million in 2011.
Although Perhutani agreed in 2011 to the voluntary process that promotes
eco-friendly management in order to obtain certification, it controls a huge
area of forest once used by indigenous communities, many of whom still depend
on the forests for their livelihoods.
The company needs FSC certification to access high-value wood markets in
the US and Europe, said Muhammad Firman, director of the Forest Utilization
Department under Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry.
SFM balances the present use of forests with their preservation for
future generations. Certification started in the 1980s and is granted to forest
companies by around 60 independent organizations under two main umbrella groups
- Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), the world's
largest forest certification system, and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) -
with 20 to 30 percent of North American and European forests having
certification, and Asia lagging far behind with only 2 to 4 percent.
However, many activists believe SFM certification is geared less towards
local communities than towards the environment and facilitating trade between
forest companies and Western wood buyers
“When indigenous people have been denied the right to use forests in the
traditional way, no ‘inclusion’ programme can fully match their loss. It is not
a question of ‘exclusion’ or ‘inclusion’,” said Deddy Raith, from the
Jakarta-based NGO, WALHI-Friends of the Earth Indonesia.
“Today, Perhutani still has full responsibility over the forests,” said
Ambrosius Ruwindrijarto, president of the local NGO, Telapak. “What we want is
to mainstream community logging as the new trees-management regime in
Indonesia.”
Martua Sirait, a policy analyst in Aceh Province for the Nairobi-based
World Agroforestry Centre, maintains that the management of forests has ignored
the customary land rights of some 40 to 60 million people since the 1960s.
Large-scale illegal loggers were often active in the forests, and local
inhabitants were exposed to danger by sometimes becoming involved, or being
caught in the crossfire. Between 1998 and 2008 Perhutani’s armed patrols were
accused of killing 32 people and injuring 69 in the fight against illegal
timber operators, The Forest Trust (TFT), a Geneva-based international charity,
reported.
Perhutani lost its SFM certification in 2002 and required TFT’s
assistance to define a course of action to regain it, said Scott Poynton, TFT’s
executive director.
The program, ‘Drop the Guns’, began in 2003, with Perhutani providing a
share of timber sales and non-timber forest products to forest communities. In
exchange, villagers took on a new role as guardians of the forests. But both
parties only laid down all their weapons in 2009, which explained why the
deadly fights continued until 2008, Poynton said.
“Peace remains fragile because the underlying cause of unequal forest
rights is unresolved. Perhutani can better sell its products, but villagers
have received too little,” said Hasbi Berliani, a programme manager at the
national good governance NGO, Kemitraan, quoting an ongoing evaluation by the
Indonesian Institute of Sciences, which shows that poverty among indigenous
households has yet to be alleviated.
“Villagers have been given $19 million between 2005 and 2010,” said
Bambang Sukmananto, chief executive officer of Perhutani, noting that the 2011
SFM certification was recognition of the company’s efforts.
Providing greater forest rights to indigenous people is a growing trend
across Asia, aimed not only at safeguarding the livelihoods of villagers but
also at improving environmental protection.
(IRIN is a service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs. Its reports do not necessarily reflect the views of the United
Nations.)
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