ILLEGAL LOGGING IN INDONESIA

Illegal logging is a major problem for timber-producing countries in the developing world. It has caused environmental ruins and produced various threats in many areas. It also promotes corruption and undermines the rule of law. In Indonesia’s case, for instance, illegal logging has become one of the most pressing problems in recent years. It does not only destroy the forests such as in Kalimantan and Sumatra islands, but also threatens some protected animals. It is reported that the annual log harvest started from 32.6 million cubic meters in 1997 to 64.6 million cubic meters in 1998. Amazingly, no less than 75% of timber production was considered illegal (Tacconi et.al., 2004). To discuss this important issue, three key causes of illegal logging in Indonesia: poor protection, poor law enforcement, and corruption, will be the main focus of this piece of writing.

First of all, illegal logging may happen in Indonesia because the protection of the forests in this country is really poor. According to Ravenel and Granof (2004) Indonesia has numerous large forests lying from Sumatra island in the west to Papua island in the east, but the government could not provide sufficient powers, such as human resources and sophisticated technology, to control the illegal activities in the forests. Although the government has issued several regulations to combat this problem, illegal logging is still unavoidable. It may result from local people around the forests who lack understanding about the danger of deforestation.

Law enforcement is another problem that should be taken into account. In the view of Tacconi et.al. (2004), the government is actually conscious about the negative effects of illegal logging. It also has introduced several laws about forest protection. Furthermore, environmental activists often remind the government to be aware of illegal logging conducted by people from cities, such as some business people who have large industries in Jakarta. Those people open the forest illegally to take timber and export them without official documents. Nevertheless, the government could not stop this crime since several actors of illegal logging are the people in charge in Jakarta (Hiller, 2004). Those corrupt people have the power to control the forests.

The other major cause of illegal logging is corruption. Even though the current President, Yudhoyono, tries to implement a clean government, corruption is still inevitable. People who take advantage of the poor law enforcement in Indonesia are still able to benefit from illegal logging since the demand from other countries, such as Australia and the United States, is still huge (Smith, 2004). Therefore, they could cut off trees in remote and preserved forests to fulfill this never-ending trade by bribing forest officers.

To sum up, illegal logging is a significant threat faced by several countries including Indonesia. There are several causes of such illegal activities. Hence, the government, the business people, and the environmental activists should go hand in hand with society to solve this problem and produce a wise policy to protect the forests from unintended damages.

References

Hiller, M., Jarvis, B., Lisa H., Paulson, L., Pollard, E., & Stanley, S. (2004). Recent trends in illegal logging and a brief discussion of their causes: A case study from Gunung Palung national park, Indonesia, The Haworth Press, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.haworthpress.com/web/JSF
Ravenel R., & Granoff, I. (2004). Illegal logging in the tropics: A synthesis of the issues, The Haworth Press, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.haworthpress.com/web/JSF
Smith, W. (2004). Undercutting sustainability, The Haworth Press, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.haworthpress.com/web/JSF
Tacconi, L., Obidzinski, K., Smith., J., Subarudi, & Suramenggala, I., (2004). Can ‘legalization’ of illegal forest activities reduce illegal logging? Lessons from East Kalimantan, The Haworth Press, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.haworthpress.com/web/JSF