Nature Alert: Govt to allow some export of protected forest wood

Friday 21 August 2009

Govt to allow some export of protected forest wood

Benget Besalicto Tnb. , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Fri, 08/21/2009

The government is considering to allow the export of S4S (surface -machined to a smooth finish- on all four sides) categories of wood and logs from natural forests, currently still banned, as a way of boosting the revenue of the forestry sector, an official says.

“We’re currently in talks with all ministries concerned. Hopefully, we’ll issue the regulation soon,” the director general of forest product development at the Ministry of Forestry, Hadi Daryanto, said Friday.

Hadi argued that despite the global crisis, the S4S and log products are still lucrative in certain markets across the globe. “The demand is particularly strong from Middle East markets,” he said.

The ministry had decided in 2005 to ban the export of the S4S products and logs from natural forests, in a bid, at that time, to help conserve natural forests, whilst still allowing some local value chain development for local wood products.

Hadi said that apparently other countries like Malaysia and China had benefited from this still growing global market, particularly after the Indonesian withdrawal from the S4S and log market in 2005.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/08/21/govt-allow-some-export-protected-forest-wood.html

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.