Work took me to the peat land forests of Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province. The Tolak River runs through these forests. Tolak is rusty in colour owing to its journey through the peat forests that holds layers and layers of partly decomposed leaves and wood which form acidic peat. Interestingly, such peat forests hold far more carbon than other forests. After a boat ride down the river, my group stopped at an improvised jetty where freshly cut logs were waiting ready to be transported by boats. A small wooden path-way ran deep into the forest. After a light trek, through shrubs and several stubs of trees that once stood, one could hear the distinct sound of a chain saw. We followed the sound and soon came across a small group of youth from the nearby village. This group had cut 3 huge trees that day and were to transport them by dollies to the river and then onwards by boat. They would earn a meager $3 for their days work. The forest is teeming with several such groups of illegal loggers.
River Pawan runs through a large town Ketapang in West Kalimantan. Here I was to see rafts of illegally cut wood openly ferried to saw mills after which it would make its way to other parts of Indonesia and abroad. The whole province of Kalimantan has lost most of its forest cover to illegal logging and mining and also the conversion of forest land to oil palm plantations. This is the sad story with the island of Sumatra too. Indonesia and the world are losing precious forests this way and this undoubtedly needs to be stopped.
The Governments of Norway and Indonesia have recently entered into a partnership through a Letter of Intent (LOI) to reduce such deforestation and degradation of forests (REDD) of Indonesia. The LOI has correctly recognized that unless the legal regime and law enforcement is strengthened to fight illegal logging, efforts at reducing deforestation is bound to fail. In fact the LOI also proposes a special unit to tackle this problem in its second phase after the preparation phase.
Small disparate groups operating locally and larger groups with transnational connections are involved in the business of supplying illegal logs to insatiable markets in Indonesia and other parts of the world. Well known companies also known to illegally log wood beyond what their concessions entitle them to. Logs move out of forest boundaries and get processed in saw mills and then cross provincial and national boundaries. This operation is facilitated by corrupting and paying off public officials all the way. Corruption enables the destruction of forests by compromising proper law enforcement, prosecution and sentencing.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime with its twin mandate of fighting crime under the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and fighting corruption under the UN Convention against Corruption is partnering the Government of Indonesia with the support of the Government of Norway to address these issues.
Through a study on REDD and governance, UNODC is evaluating the risks to REDD from illegal logging and corruption and also preparing an advisory strategy to counter corruption and fraud when payments under the REDD programmes start. The point of incentivizing good and effective law enforcement through payments under REDD will also be explored in this study.
Papua is one of the provinces of Indonesia with large and almost intact forest cover. However, it is also currently the most vulnerable to illegal loggers and plantation mafia. In Papua, a Norway supported UNODC project seeks to enhance the capacity of the law enforcement to counter illegal logging. The project will train and supply material resources to the Special Responsive Police Forest Task Force (SPORC) and other forest rangers in effective implementation of forest laws and investigation of cases. The poor coordination between responsible agencies will also be addressed.
Arrests of perpetrators have been carried out from time to time, but only a very small percentage of illegal logging cases have been effectively prosecuted. Although Indonesia’s forest law stipulates a penalty of up to 15 years, mostly sentences have been light. Confiscation processes of wood and means of transportation used for illegal activities is also highly inadequate. Thus, the deterrence and disincentives against illegal logging are rather weak and inadequate. The project will work with prosecutors and judicial officers to address these issues.
Through following the money trail of profits from illegal logging and trade, the project will work with authorities to trace the kingpins behind such activities. Local community and civil society will also be galvanized to act as informants and pressure groups against illegal loggers and illegal forest conversion.
In conclusion I would like to say that effective law enforcement and anti-corruption strategies is the cornerstone of success in preventing deforestation in Indonesia. This must be an integral part in the implementation of the LOI too.