$2b lost from forest corruption

Investigations revealed that Indonesia had forgone US$6 billion in four years through 2006 because of taxes lost on illegal logging, underpriced forest royalties and companies' undervaluing of reported export sales to offshore subsidiaries. -- PHOTO: AFP CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTO http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_461126.html

JAKARTA - CORRUPTION and mismanagement inside Indonesia's lucrative forest industry now costs the developing country US$2 billion (S$2.77 billion) a year - the equivalent of its entire health budget, a human rights report said on Tuesday.

Human Rights Watch is the latest independent organisation to allege widespread corruption within one of Indonesia's most important export industries, but its report shines new light on the problems just a week before a climate conference that is expected to consider a plan to pay poor countries to protect their forests.

The New York-based human rights watchdog said its investigation revealed that Indonesia had forgone US$6 billion in four years through 2006 because of taxes lost on illegal logging, underpriced forest royalties and companies' undervaluing of reported export sales to offshore subsidiaries.

The losses have gathered pace, starting at US$1.2 billion in 2003 and rising to $2 billion in 2006. Indonesia's national, provincial and district authorities spend that much each year on health care, it said. Despite the losses, forests earned Indonesia US$6.6 billion in 2007, making its industry the most lucrative of any country after Brazil.

The report said corruption in the industry was an issue of human rights as well as of environmental and economic importance because money desperately needed by the health sector and other social programs was being pocketed by corporate executives and corrupt officials.

It also warned governments to be wary of paying Indonesia to maintain its rain forests, which are among the world's largest - a proposal to be discussed next week at the international climate conference in Copenhagen. -- AP

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_461126.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.