Govt eyes wood products certification body

Hyginus Hardoyo, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta | Thu, 05/15/2008 12:35 PM

With help from the Indonesian Ecolabelling Institute (IEI) and the European Union, the government is developing an executive body under the Forestry Ministry to be responsible for the certification of sustainable wood products and production system.

"The executive body will be at the same level as a directorate general within a ministry," IEI executive director Taufik Alwi said on the sidelines of a seminar on wood legality in Yogyakarta on Wednesday.

The IEI is a quasi-government body now temporarily in charge of issuing sustainable forest certification in the country with many of its members scholars or players in the forestry industry.

The IEI, he said, would formulate the wood certification standard for the proposed body, while the European Union would provide expert advisory and funding, although he refused to specify amounts.

Alwi said in order to ensure product certification compatibility and access to most international markets, the body would adapt a verification system used in 10 major green wood importing countries, including the Netherlands, Germany, France, Britain, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.

He also said the executive body would have the authority to issue certification for independent wood certification agencies.

He said while no deadlines had yet been set, the IEI sought to complete a draft of the certification standard soon.

The creation of an international standards-compliant body, he said, would result in an exponential increase in Indonesian wood products, which currently only account for 5 percent of the world market, entering major markets, particularly in Europe.

"Even though Indonesia has declared some of its wood products legal and made from sustainable harvested materials, buyers are not yet comfortable with the existing system's ability to verify product legality," he said.

The new system, he said, would be credible and efficient in that it would not require additional funding.

The existing system is subject to a large number of costly inspections by agencies both from central and regional administrations.

"Imagine, a business entity can be inspected up to 50 times per year on various subjects ranging from wood yields to boundary matters," Taufik said.

He said the IEI's existing program had already certified 1.1 million hectares of production forest, and aimed to expand to 2 million hectares by the end of the year.

RI`s first lady gets UN Award for Promoting Tree Planting Movement

New York (ANTARA News) - Indonesian First Lady Ani Yudhoyono got an award from the United Nations for promoting the planting of millions of trees in Indonesia as part of the Billion Tree Planting Campaign spearheaded by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Agro-forestry Center (ICRAF).

In addition to the First Lady, UNEP also awarded the Indonesian forestry minister for supporting the global tree planting activities

UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner presented certificates of appreciation called "Certificate of Global Leadership" to the First Lady and the forestry minister, who were represented by Dana Kartakusuma, Staff Expert of the Environmental Affairs Minister, at the UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday.

"The award from UNEP is encouragement for Indonesia to work harder and intensify tree planting activities to prevent natural disasters such as floods, erosion, and landslides which often hit the country," Dana told ANTARA News.

Indonesia has at least planted 86 million trees as part of the global campaign to fight climate change.

The Billion Tree Planting Campaign, a unique worldwide tree planting initiative, aimed at empowering citizens to corporations and people up to presidents to embrace the climate change challenge, has now set its sights on planting seven billion trees.

UNEP reported that the Billion Tree Campaign has in just 18 months catalyzed the planting of two billion trees, double its original target.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, said "When the Billion Tree Campaign was launched at the Climate Convention meeting in Nairobi in 2006, no one could have imagined it could have flowered so fast and so far. But it has given expression to the frustrations but also the hopes of millions of people around the world".

"Having exceeded every target that has been set for the campaign, we are now calling on individuals, communities, business and industry, civil society organizations and governments to evolve this initiative onto a new and even higher level by the crucial climate change conference in Copenhagen in late 2009," he said.

"In 2006 we wondered if a billion tree target was too ambitious; it was not. The goal of two billion trees has also proven to be an underestimate. The goal of planting seven billion trees - equivalent to just over a tree per person alive on the planet `must therefore also be do-able given the campaign`s extraordinary track record and the self-evident worldwide support," he added.

The Billion Tree Campaign has become a practical expression of private and public concern over global warming.

Heads of state including the presidents of Indonesia, the Maldives, Mexico, Turkey and Turkmenistan as well as businesses; cities; faith, youth and community groups have enthusiastically taken part. Individuals have accounted for over half of all participants.

Palm oil firms vow to stop using forests

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Bogor | Tue, 05/13/2008 10:39 AM

Palm oil companies operating in Indonesia pledged to stop expanding plantations into forests in response to growing global criticism about deforestation and to promote more sustainable products.

Executive director of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI), Didiek Hadjar Goenadi, said here Monday palm oil companies would focus on utilizing idle land, including former forest concession areas, to maintain Indonesia as the world's largest crude palm oil producer.

"We realize the environmental impacts by opening all our forests so we will stop touching the forest and just concentrate on abundant lands which have not been cultivated yet," Didiek told reporters during a break in a a seminar on climate change, agriculture and trade.

There are currently 6.7 million hectares of oil palm plantations in the country -- half belonging to private firms, while the rest are operated by small-scale farmers. Only about 600,000 hectares are managed by state-owned enterprises.

Didiek estimated there were about seven million hectares of idle land across the country that could be used to plant oil palms or rubber trees.

He said the association's members had applied the so-called roundtable on sustainable palm oil (RSOP), an international initiative promoting sustainability up and down the palm oil supply chain.

"But since many oil palm plantations are operated by farmers, many of them are still unaware about the RSOP regulations. It is the government's task to educate them," he said.

Indonesia's crude palm oil production reached its highest-ever level of 17.2 million tons last year, passing Malaysia, which produced 16 million tons.

Environmental activists have stepped up protests against the country's palm oil companies, accusing the firms of expanding their operations by clearing formerly forested land. The activists say the expansion, including in peatland forests, has killed thousands of orangutans and resulted in huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.

Didiek said the palm oil business in Indonesia dated back more than 150 years.

"There have been standard operating procedures in implementing good agriculture procedures since the Dutch period," he said.

"However, the booming of the commodity encourages the new planters to neglect these standard. This is the main cause of why land burning has become extensive and erosion has taken place."

Didiek said demand for crude palm oil had accelerated with the rising popularity of biofuels in developed nations to substitute for fossil fuels. He also called on the country's oil palm producers to do more for the environment and people's welfare.

"Conflict between food and fuels must be ended by taking all necessary actions to minimize negative impacts both to the local people and the international community," he said.

Australia grants $38 million for farmers in eastern Indonesia

Antara, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara | Tue, 05/13/2008 6:43 PM

The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) has allocated A$38 million (about US$35.7 million) toward increasing the earnings and productivity of farmers in four provinces in eastern Indonesia.

The four provinces are West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi.

"The Aus$38 million program is aimed at farmers to help them utilize market opportunities and to increase the added value of their agricultural products," said AusAID Indonesia's minister- counselor, Blair Exell, on Tuesday at a peanut harvest in a 420- hectare plantation, a pilot project supported by AusAID in northern Lombok.

The project is part of the Australian-Indonesian Partnership program known as the Smallholder Agribusiness Development Initiative (SADI)

The program aims to improve farmers access to technology for rural enterprises, improve business practices and address critical constraints such as market access, finance and infrastructure gaps.

The funds will go towards promoting efficient production in areas including horticulture and livestock in rural areas of eastern Indonesia.

Exell said the program so far has been successfully implemented through three institutions namely the National Program of People Empowerment (PNPM), World Bank Group and Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

PNPM is responsible for the improvement of farmer's production and marketing, IFC supported entrepreneurship and ACIAR supported the market research.

RI forest conversions alarming: Greenomics

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Fri, 05/09/2008 9:38 AM

Forest conversion has reached an alarming level in Indonesia with more than 10 million hectares of protected forest converted for business use since the inception of regional autonomy in 2000, a study says.

The study, conducted by the Greenomics Indonesia environmental group, found most regional spatial plans do not aim to protect forests.

"In fact, some existing spatial planning ... expedites forest conversions," Greenomics executive director Elfian Effendi told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

"The area of converted forest now exceeds 158 times the size of Singapore."

Indonesia is the world's third-largest forestry country, with over 120 million hectares of rainforest.

The government has set aside about 40 million hectares for both protected and conservation forests, where plantation, agriculture or logging activities are not allowed.

"However, as forest conversion remains common practice, only 30 million hectares of protected forest are now left. They will disappear in the short term unless the government takes actions to stop forest conversion," Elfian said.

The issue of forest conversion made the headlines when the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested lawmaker Al Amin Nasution for allegedly accepting a bribe to facilitate the approval for forest to be converted on Bintan Island, Riau, last month.

The Bintan administration requested the government's permit through the House of Representatives to convert around 200 hectares of a 7,300-hectare protected forest for an office complex project.

The Greenomics study found that in the last two years alone, there were at least 40 cases where forest land was converted into plantations and agricultural land, covering about 195,000 hectares of protected forest.

Greenomics found some 327,000 hectares of its protected forest has been converted under forest concessions in North Sumatra, while in Aceh about 160,000 hectares of protected forest was turned into plantation and agricultural areas.

According to the study, about 143,000 hectares of protected forest has illegally been converted for plantations and agricultural land in Riau province.

The Greenomics also said the West Kalimantan administration had failed to save its protected forests.

"About 286,000 hectares of protected forest there has been converted into agricultural estates," he said.

In Central Kalimantan, about 225,000 hectares of protected forest has been converted into plantations.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should put an end to forest conversion by setting up a national team to determine whether regional spatial planning undermines or sustains protected and conservation forests, Greenomics said.

"We learned that only about 40 percent of spatial planning is aimed at saving protected forest in the country," he said.

"But, the forestry ministry seem powerless to handle the problem."

The Greenomics also supports ongoing moves by the KPK to resolve forest corruption cases.

Law enforcement against forest conversion practices should be simple because any business activity in the protected forests is illegal, he said.

"The KPK and police should find it easy to investigate forest conversion cases since perpetrators can't obtain a license to convert protected forests," he said.

Related Story:

Businessmen admits paying Batam authorities to use forest land

Red Cross launches cleanups to help prevent more floods

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 05/10/2008 10:34 AM

The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) launched a neighborhood cleanup campaign Thursday in a bid to highlight the threat of flooding in several parts of the city.

The campaign in Petamburan, Central Jakarta, is the first in a planned series of nationwide campaigns. The area is notoriously prone to flooding.

Hundreds of local residents and students from schools in the neighborhood took part in cleaning out gutters, digging biopore holes and distributing tree seedlings, hygiene products and baby kits.

PMI volunteers supervised the cleanup, which took in private homes, public facilities and streets. The PMI also provided 10 garbage receptacles for sorting organic and inorganic waste.

PMI secretary-general, Iyang D. Sukandar, said several sponsors had provided support for the activities, including the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the German Red Cross and the Dutch Red Cross.

"The Agriculture Ministry provided us with the seedlings, and their distribution is part of our effort to curb the effects of global warming," he said.

"Cleaning up the environment and making biopores are also important in helping us adapt to the changing climate," he said.

Iyang said the campaign was conducted to commemorate the 145th anniversary of the World Red Cross Red Crescent Day on May 8.

Agus Surono, head of the Petamburan neighborhood unit, said the PMI's efforts were laudable because they helped raise awareness of the annual flood threat.

"The communities here need to work together with the PMI on a more regular basis," he said.

PMI press officer Aulia Arriani said the PMI usually dealt with disaster relief management, so preventive activities like this were very important.

"This kind of activity promotes community participation in preparing for disasters. We can also educate people and recruit more volunteers from local communities," she said.

She said the PMI also gave free health checks and blood-type tests.

"The blood-type tests are very useful for us to prepare a list of potential blood donors. We have about 250 candidates from this area," she said.(uwi)

President to hold dialog with farmers in W. Sulawesi

Makassar, South Sulwesi (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to visit Mamuju, provincial capital of West Sulawesi, on Monday and Tuesday for a dialog with the local people, West Sulawesi Governor H Anwar Adnan Saleh said.

"About 5,000 rice and plantation farmers as well as fishermen from five districts in West Sulawesi will attend the dialog with the president," the governor said here on Friday.

Anwar said that in West Sulawesi, the president will give a motivation and briefing to local administration officials and people in view of problems in the run-up to the central government`s plan to raise fuel oil prices.

The president, who during the visit would be accompanied by Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare Aburizal Bakrie and a number of cabinet ministers, will hand over assistance to the local people.

The assistance under the national people`s empowerment program, amounts to several billions of rupiah.

"The funds will be very useful to reduce the impact of the fuel oil price hike because the local people could use them according to their priorities," the West Sulawesi governor said.

Anwar said that the number of poor people in his province was relatively high, reaching about 19 percen of its population of 1.1 million.

Bulog rice purchases exceed target

The Jakarta Post, Sat, 05/03/2008 11:14 AM

State logistics firm Perum Bulog announced Friday its rice procurement during the first four months of this year had exceeded initial targets.

Bulog President Director Mustafa Abubakar said the firm had bought 974,000 tons of rice in the year's first quarter, up from its initial 960,000 tons target.

However, he said the procurement was still lower than the 1.1 million tons requirement inked in a contract between Bulog and its partners.

"The lower procurement is not due to our trading partners shifting some of the allocated rice to the markets, but because their purchasing abilities are still at that level. But we are sure the target can be realized soon," he said.

Mustafa said the biggest procurement came from East Java with 401,000 tons, followed by Central Java with 199,000 tons and West Java with 174,000 tons.

Bulog is tasked with stockpiling rice, the country's main staple food, by buying the grain directly from farmers or third parties, and unloading it during rice shortages.

The firm is also tasked with maintaining the price of rice.

As of Friday, Bulog rice stock reached 1.37 million tons; including paddy equivalent to 1.45 million tons of rice and 128,600 tons of husked rice.

Bulog is targeting to procure 2.5 million tons of rice by the end of this year.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, is predicted to see a jump in rice consumption of 5 percent from 33 million tons last year. -- JP/Novia D. Rulistia

Speculations stir up energy and food crisis

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 05/02/2008 1:33 PM

Speculations on the financial market, including futures trading, have exacerbated the energy and food crisis by inflating prices in spite of a global economic slowdown, a discussion forum was told Wednesday in Jakarta.

In a seminar organized by the International NGO Forum on Indonesia Development, Agustinus Prasetyantoko of Atmajaya University said food and energy prices were expected to rise for years ahead due to increasing demand and shrinking outputs.

"With predictions of a slowing global economy and crisis fears, oil demand and prices are expected to fall.

"But what has happened is the price keeps on increasing. So this is a contradiction. It shows market speculation now plays a big role in determining prices."

Crude oil for June delivery was traded at $113.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday, 11:49 a.m. London time, as reported by Bloomberg. Oil futures, which have gained 76 percent in the past year, touched a record $119.93 a barrel on April 28.

The International Monetary Fund predicts world economic growth will slow to 3.7 percent this year, 1.25 percent lower than in 2007.

Commodities, Augustinus said, including food and oil, had become the anchors of financial derivatives and more and more commodities contracts were being traded in the futures market.

"When the futures are speculated to increase in price, the agricultural outputs as well as the price are expected to increase as well," he said.

Rice, soybean, wheat, corn and crude oil futures are traded on various American stock exchanges, including the Chicago Board of Trade and New York Mercantile Exchange, rubber on the Singapore Stock Exchange and palm oil on the Malaysian Stock Exchange.

The effect on commodity markets has been more intense recently due to the crisis is the U.S. financial market.

"The investors need to find new fields. Firms like Dow Jones that usually invest in traditional markets now are also heavily focusing on financial products tied to agriculture commodities," he said, adding that Indonesia could do little in the short term to ease the impacts.

However, he said one solution was to prevent capitals from flowing out of the country through monetary and investment policies, but that the solution depended on farsighted strategies to secure energy and food self-sufficiency.

"Why is Indonesia a net oil and grain importer now? I think there have been flaws in our long-term strategies in the past.

"If we had managed our oil production properly, we may have escaped the negative impacts of the oil crisis. We may even have enjoyed the benefits like oil-producing countries in the Middle East."

Bakrie Sumatera Plantations Q1 profit jumps 794 percent

Novia D. Rulistia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 05/02/2008 1:33 PM

The country's fifth-largest plantation owner by value, PT Bakrie Sumatera Plantations, booked a 794 percent increase in its first quarter net profit helped by stronger prices of palm oil.

President director Ambono Janurianto said Wednesday the firm's net profit had reached Rp 165 billion (around US$18 million) by the end of March this year, jumping from Rp 18.5 billion in the same period last year.

PALM OIL CONTROVERSY - Palm oil trees at Pangkalan Kerinci in Riau, Central Sumatra, Indonesia, on Thursday. A WWF study found that deforestation, in many cases to plant biofuel friendly palm oil plants, in central Sumatra's Riau Province over the past 25 years has generated 3.7 gigatons of carbon dioxide. (AP/Achmad Ibrahim)

He said sales in the first three months climbed to Rp 678 billion from Rp 264 billion and that its operational income reached Rp 222 billion from Rp 70 billion a year earlier."This indicates that we're going to be very strong in growth this year, both in land ownership and net profit," he said.

Ambono said the company expected to acquire 200,000 hectares of land by the end of 2011. Currently, the company has a total 106,000 hectares of planted land, up from 52,000 hectares at the end of 2007.

For this year's strategies, the company has set aside US$100 million in cash, $40 million of which will be used to buy a further 26 percent of PT Agri Resources BV (ARBV).

"We plan to increase our share in ARBV from the current 25 percent to 51 percent," Ambono said.

He said 25 million of the fund would be used for the company's capital expenditure worth $25 million, with the remaining cash to finance its joint venture company with Bakrie Sentosa Persada, called PT Indo Green International, in its efforts to turn 50,000 hectares of empty land into CPO plantations.

He said the strategies would help the company increase CPO production to 340,000 tons this year, an 88.8 percent increase from 180,000 tons in 2007, and that Bakrie's rubber production would reach 40,000 tons this year, up from 29,500 tons last year.

The company's total 2008 revenue is targeted to reach Rp 3.5 trillion.

Femke den Haas: Rescuing endangered animals

Ani Suswantoro, Contributor The Jakarta Post, Ragunan, South Jakarta, 04/27/2008

How many Jakartans have seen the Braminy Kite (Haliastur Indus) or know that this endangered bird has been a symbol of the captial since 1995?

The falling number of kites can be traced back to the early 20th Century, when Pulau Elang (Raptor Island) was renamed Pulau Pramuka (Scout Island)because few raptors could be found on the island.

How many know that the White-Bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) is a protected species?

Despite their status as protected species as stated by Regulation No. 5/1990 on Conservation on Natural Resources and Ecosystems and Regulation No. 7/1999 on Flora and Fauna 

Preservation, they are still threatened by illegal poaching and trade, habitat destruction, public ignorance and the lack of attention from authorities.

But there is still hope through the organizations that are working to protect these birds. One of them is the Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN), established in early 2008 by Femke den Haas and several other conservationists.

Den Haas, a Dutch national born in 1977 in Yaoende, Cameroon, has been working to improve the welfare of animals in Indonesia through the JAAN.

Her encounter with Indonesian wildlife began at the age of 17, when she volunteered to monitor the release of 70 orangutans in East Kalimantan. The province's rich flora and fauna fascinated her, and she even took 6 months' leave of her senior high school studies in the Netherlands to join the project.

Back in Holland, she became involved in several animal conservation and rescue projects in Europe and Africa.

"I learned that the illegal primate trade in Holland mainly came from Indonesia, so I decided to come back, where I could work right at the source," said den Haas.

She returned to Indonesia, and from 2002-2006, worked at the Gibbon Foundation, an international non-profit organization that works to stop wildlife trafficking and trade. The foundation set up several Pusat Penyelamatan Satwa (PPS)or Animal Rescue Centers - in Jakarta, Sukabumi, Yogyakarta, Denpasar and Manado, as well as other cities.

During her tenure as manager at PPS Tegal Alur, West Jakarta, den Haas began to realize the intricate chain of illegal animal trade and the difficulties to eradicate it, but she and her team persevered. It was during her work there that she met and married her Indonesian husband, Sudarno.

"Unfortunately, in 2006 the foundation stopped its cooperation, considering that Indonesia was not serious enough to protect its natural richness. I then resigned and joined International Animal Rescue (IAR) in 2007," said den Haas.

"In 2008, together with some dedicated individuals, Rio Cornel, Ardiansyah, Natalie Stewart and Karin Franken, we established the Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN), to be more able to cater local needs. Sponsorship and support come from individuals and organisations alike," she said.

JAAN provides help to all kinds of animals, including caring for and finding homes for stray dogs and cats. It also rehabilitates and releases sea turtles, monkeys and other endangered species.

At present, JAAN is focusing on the rehabilitation and release of the Brahminy Kite and the White-Bellied Sea Eagle with the support of the Taman Nasional Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands National Park), Coconut Island Resort, IAR and local residents.

The project, based on Kotok and Penjaliran Barat islands, was initiated in 2004 when PPS Tegal Alur received many of those birds. *

The local economy, sea and coastal conditions, and even the bad habits of some Jakarta citizens affect the birds' well-being. For example, the currents carry garbage thrown into the city's rivers to Kepulauan Seribu regency, contaminating the habitat.

JAAN's program is multifaceted to address these conditions and to protect the birds, including through public education, waste management and recycling, fertilizing and composting, ecotourism, and the protection and monitoring of coral reefs, fish and sea turtles.

The birds at the rescue center on Kotok and Penjaliran Barat islands have been confiscated or handed over voluntarily by their owners, and come from Jakarta, Sukabumi and Yogyakarta. So far, JAAN has released 40 birds into the wild and is rehabilitating 27 birds. Those birds that cannot be released will spend their entire lives at the center.

"Femke's care for animals does not end in ideas only, but is manifested into concrete actions. Upon observing the suffering of animals, she will do anything to help them," said Sumarto, former head of the Thousand Islands National Park.

"Her dedication is beyond question, as reflected in her willingness to stay on the island to tend to the animals on New Year's Eve, when all staff are on leave. She is an extraordinary woman," he said.

JAAN welcomes assistance from volunteers in their rehabilitation and release program, and their tasks include monitoring and observing the birds after release, cleaning and maintaining cages and the beach, as well as participation in brainstorming ideas for a conservation campaign.

External funding is also highly appreciated for the continuation of JAAN's missionimprove the welfare of Indonesian animals and to stop illegal wildlife trade", according to den Haas.

When wildlife thrives, so does human life. Hopefully an increased understanding of this relationship among Jakarta's citizens and an improvement in the welfare and economy of local residents will help den Haas and her team's dream come true.

Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN)

Jl. Jeruk Purut Buntu 2A

Cilandak, South Jakarta

Tel: (021) 7802556

jakartaanimalaid@gmail.com

Related Article:

City’s Former Dancing Monkeys Now Seeking Their Own Isle of Refuge

The Jakarta Animal Aid Network has an island where

released macaques can live freely. (Photo courtesy of

the Jakarta Animal Aid Network)