Nature Alert: Pontianak higher court handled 127 illegal logging cases

Saturday 13 March 2010

Pontianak higher court handled 127 illegal logging cases

Pontianak higher court handled 127 illegal logging cases

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Pontianak (ANTARA News) - The Pontianak Higher Court in 2009 was reported to have handled at least 127 illegal logging cases in West Kalimantan province, a spokesman said.

"On average, the Higher Court has actually meted out such heavier punishment to those engaged in illegal logging activity. The sentence may reach over 17 years jail term," Ida Bagus Nugrah Somya, the Higher Court`s Chief of Pontianak, told visiting legislators of the House`s Commission III, here on Monday.

Hopefully, such heavy punishment would prevent illegal logger from being engaged in committing such similar activity in the province. "We hope the perpetrators will not do it again with a heavier punishment in the future," he said.

The Higher Court, in 2009, has actually settled around 127 illegal logging cases, 16 cases for human trafficking, 17 cases for illegal trade, 11 cases for illegal mining and 29 cases for illegal fishing by foreign fishermen.

In the meeting with members of the House`s commission III and local legal enforcers at the police headquarter of West Kalimantan, Ida expressed his hope that the process of illegal fishing could be immediately settled in hope that such evidence like the confiscated vessels by the state could be operated.

In the meantime, West Kalimantan Police Chief Brig Gen Erwin TPL Tobing said large scale illegal logging practices could no longer be found in the province generally. But what was found was small scale ones who often tried to avoid the police and other security officials.

Tobing further stressed that his side still found difficulty in unraveling small scale illegal logging activities remote regions on account of huge area of the province he had to control in addition to a lack of police personnel.

In addition, the difficulty in finding illegal logging activity was also exacerbated by the lifelihood of local residents, most of whom depended much on wooden products, Tobing said. (*) COPYRIGHT © 2010

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.