Vietnam suspends wildlife trade as pandemic prods action

Yahoo – AFP, July 24, 2020

Vietnam, one of Asia's biggest consumers of wildlife products, has suspended
all imports of wild animal species "dead or alive" (AFP Photo/HOANG DINH NAM)

Vietnam, one of Asia's biggest consumers of wildlife products, has suspended all imports of wild animal species "dead or alive" and vowed to "eliminate" illegal markets across the country.

The directive signed by the leader of the Communist country follows an international scandal over the sale of wildlife, which has been blamed as the origin of the coronavirus pandemic in neighbouring China.

It is a major victory for conservation groups who have in the past accused Vietnamese authorities of turning a blind eye to the rampant trade in endangered species inside and across its borders.

"The prime minister orders the suspension of imports of wildlife -- dead or alive -- their eggs... parts or derivatives," said the order released Thursday on the government website.

Graphic on pangolins, the world's most heavily trafficked mammals (AFP Photo/AFP)

"All citizens, especially officials... must not participate in illegal poaching, buying, selling, transporting... of illegal wildlife."

Among the most frequently smuggled animal goods are tiger parts, rhino horn and pangolins used in traditional medicine.

Despite the high prices they command -- with ingredients trafficked from as far as Africa -- there is no scientific evidence of their health benefits in humans.

Vietnam locked down swiftly to dodge a major health crisis as COVID-19 emerged, but its economy has been hit hard.

The country will also "resolutely eliminate market and trading sites which trade wildlife illegally", the edict said -- warning of a crackdown on the poaching, trafficking, storing and advertising of animals, birds and reptiles.

It is a major victory for conservation groups who have in the past accused 

Vietnamese authorities of turning a blind eye to the rampant trade in 

endangered species (AFP Photo)

Anti-trafficking group Freeland hailed the move as the most stringent to control the wildlife trade since the pandemic broke out.

"Vietnam is to be congratulated for recognising that COVID-19 and other pandemics are linked to the wildlife trade," said Steven Glaster, its chairman.

"This trade must be banned as a matter of international and public health security," he added.

China, the world's biggest market for illegal wildlife products, has enacted a similar ban. Vietnam has gone further by taking aim at online sales and imposing an indefinite ban on the trade.

While welcoming the move, conservationists warn enforcement will be a challenge across a country with long porous borders and poorly paid officials who can be bent by cash.

Cambodian cops ruffle feathers by eating 92 fighting cocks

Yahoo – AFP, December 28, 2017

Cambodian netizens cried foul over the court order to kill the seized cocks
(AFP Photo/GIANLUIGI GUERCIA)

Cambodian police ruffled feathers on Thursday after they killed -- and ate -- 92 roosters that were seized earlier this month during a raid on an illegal cockfighting ring allegedly run by a relative of premier Hun Sen.

The birds were rounded up by police after they shuttered the two rural cockfighting dens on December 4 and arrested Hun Sen's nephew-in-law Thai Phany.

Thai Phany, a Cambodian-Australian citizen, was charged with running an illegal gambling operation -- a rare legal move against a member of Hun Sen's powerful family.

But while the raids were welcomed in a country teeming with official corruption, a court order to slaughter all 92 birds set off a flurry of criticism Thursday as netizens cried foul over the animals being given a harsher sentence than the people involved.

Scores of people were initially detained in the police raid, but most have since been released after receiving light suspended sentences, according to local media.

"Warrant to kill chickens! Where are the chicken owners, aren't they freed?" Hing Soksan wrote on Facebook, where photos of the slaughter have been circulating.

"The court's achievement by the end of 2017: death sentence for 92 fighting cocks," another Facebook user quipped about a justice system many decry as toothless against the graft underpinning Hun Sen's authoritarian regime.

Roeun Nara, Kandal province's deputy police chief, confirmed that the birds were killed on Wednesday following a warrant from the provincial court.

"We gave the chickens to our forces to eat," he told AFP, brushing off the online criticism.

The court document, seen by AFP on Thursday, said the slaughter was ordered "to prevent the offense from happening again and to speed up the investigation proceedings."

Cambodian police slaughter and consume 92 roosters that were seized earlier this month during a raid on an illegal cockfighting ring allegedly run by a relative of premier Hun Sen https://t.co/Gt0cwFus99 pic.twitter.com/GOwqaQbqKW

— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 28, 2017

China politicians' tiger breeding ring busted

Yahoo - AFP, 19 March 2015

Three local politicians in China raised at least 11 endangered Siberian tigers, 

state media has reported, after one of the animals jumped to its death from a 

high-rise building ( Photo By Patrik Stollarz/AFP)

Three local politicians in China raised at least 11 endangered Siberian tigers, state media reported Thursday after one of the animals jumped to its death from a high-rise building.

The cub leapt from the 11th floor of an apartment building in the eastern city of Pingdu last month when it was spooked by fireworks set off to celebrate the Chinese New Year, officials said.

Investigations revealed that the seven-month-old cub was being raised by Yang Wenzheng, a member of a municipal People’s Congress, the Communist-controlled local legislature, state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing officials.

With one of his fellow deputies, Yang had obtained two tigers from a third councillor, who had eight of the animals but found the costs of raising them -- 1,600 yuan ($260) per day in total -- too expensive to bear.

They bred at least three cubs that later died, CCTV said.

Tiger meat and bones are said to have curative properties in traditional Chinese medicine and farming them can be lucrative -- the China Daily said tigers can fetch 1 million yuan on the black market.

East Russia and China's northeast are home to the big cats, also known as Amur tigers.

Hundreds of them once roamed the lush pine and oak forests of Manchuria, but due to centuries of poaching only a couple of dozen are believed to still survive in the wild in China.

All three have resigned from the municipal People's Congress and were each fined 3,000 yuan for the "bad impact" of raising tigers without official permission, but were not prosecuted, the reports said.

CCTV reported that the surviving animals have been moved to a local zoo.

A resort complex in northwest Laos targeting Chinese visitors has become a

 "lawless playground" for the trade in illegal wildlife ranging from tiger meat to bear

paws, an advocacy group says (AFP Photo)

Related Articles:

Tiger meat, bear paws openly available in Laos: NGO

KPK Signs Memorandum of Understanding Over Natural Resources

Jakarta Globe, Mar 19, 2015

The KPK signed a Memorandum of Understanding with several government
bodies to increase oversight of the Indonesia's natural resources. (Antara Photo)

Jakarta. The Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding with related government ministries and institutions to boost corruption eradication in Indonesia’s natural resource sector.

“Signing this MoU is like a way for the KPK to look into each ministry and to help solve any natural resources-related problems they might have within them,” acting KPK chairman, Taufiqurrachman Ruki, told news portal detik.com.

KPK deputy chairman Johan Budi said new regulations would likely result from the MoU. He was unable to give a time frame or provide further detail.

“In this 2015 MoU we included the marine and plantation sectors,” he said. “Those two sectors were not included in 2014’s MoU. The ministries will make an action plan after the signing and we will monitor it.”

The purpose of the document is to beef up anti-corruption oversight of the country’s natural resources, from hydrocarbons to marine stocks.

“The MoU has to be realized,” President Joko Widodo said. “We should work together on eradicating corruption in the sector — it could lead to eradicating corruption for good.”

Jokowi’s Call for Ecological Reform Reaches Palm Oil Firms

Jakarta Globe, Dec 08, 2014

The practice of burning peatlands has not only damaged the environment but
also triggered health problems. (EPA Photo/Azwar)

Jakarta. Following last week’s strong pro-peatlands and forests commitment by newly inaugurated President Joko Widodo, two of the world’s largest palm oil producers and traders have announced policies to address the criticism of deforestation in their supply chains.

However, Greenpeace says that where Musim Mas commits to immediately protect High Carbon Stock (HCS) forests, Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK) does not define exactly what it will protect.

The High Carbon Stock Approach, the global environmental group argues, is a tested tool that identifies degraded areas suitable for plantation development and forest areas that merit protection to maintain and enhance carbon, biodiversity and social values.

It is being overseen and further refined by the multi-stakeholder High Carbon Stock Approach Steering Group, which involves international non-governmental organizations including Greenpeace as well as palm oil producers Cargill, Agropalma, Wilmar, New Britain Palm Oil, Daabon and Golden Agri Resources, and one of the world’s largest pulp and paper companies Asia Pulp & Paper (APP).

“While Musim Mas will use the leading methodology to break the link between palm oil and deforestation, KLK fails to identify what forests the company plans to protect,” said Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner Annisa Rahmawati. “Without a clear definition, it is hard for us to believe that the company is serious about its commitments.”

Both Musim Mas and KLK are part of the Malaysia-based Sustainable Palm Oil Manifesto (SPOM), an industry initiative that has commissioned further carbon study. In their new policies, the companies say they will adopt the outcomes of that study after 2015.

Where the HCS Approach has explicitly been developed to implement commitments to break the link between palm oil and deforestation, the objective of the SPOM appears to rather be balancing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and socioeconomic aspects.

Greenpeace and other leading NGOs do not support the SPOM as it falls short of new benchmarks for responsible palm oil production and trade, and is not a multi-stakeholder driven initiative. However, the HCS Approach Steering Group has stated an openness to any new credible science and will consider recommendations from the SPOM study.

“With deforestation rates rising in Indonesia, KLK and Musim Mas need get their priorities [straight]. We urge these companies to make a long-term commitment to the best tools available, in particular the HCS Approach, to break the link between palm oil and deforestation. They also need to require their third party suppliers to do the same,” Annisa said.

KLK and Musim Mas’s announcements come days after a visit by Joko to the coastal peatlands of Riau. The president assured that his minister for environment and forestry is reviewing plantation concessions, and will revoke the permits of those that have damaged the ecosystem.

Greenpeace has declared its support of Joko’s push for environmental law enforcement, and pointed to a recent case in which a director and a manager of KLK subsidiary Adei Plantation and Industry were found guilty of negligence over forest fires in Pelalawan, Riau.

In his visit to the province Joko declared his preference for farms owned by individuals — as opposed to corporations — to curb the haze crisis that stems from peatland fires in Riau and across Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Joko said private farmers had minimal impact on the environment when compared to corporate monoculture plantations such as those for oil palms and pulpwood, which have been the main cause of environmental damage in the province.

The president added that he had ordered Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya to review and monitor concessions currently operated by large companies across the country.

“If they are indeed destroying the ecosystem with their monoculture plantations, they will have to be terminated,” Joko said.

“We must put a stop the [destruction], we mustn’t allow our tropical rainforests to disappear.”

The president revealed that the government also plans to employ a new approach in managing Indonesia’s peatlands, vast expanses of which can be found in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Fires on these two Indonesian islands, which often lead to transboundary haze problems in Singapore and Malaysia, begin on peatlands as it is drained and subjected to slashing and burning to give way for the cultivation of commercial plants.

Local farmers and large corporations have for years been placing the blame on each other for igniting fires on peatlands.

Corrupt government officials, meanwhile, have been blamed for lax law enforcement that allows fires and haze problems to recur every year, harming the health of both local and neighboring residents, and increasing economic losses as airports are forced to close.

Political indifference exacerbates Indonesia's deforestation

Fast economic expansion coupled with political apathy has led to rapid deforestation in Indonesia, threatening biodiversity. Activists say the government should not place GDP growth over environmental protection.

Deutsche Welle, 14 July 2014

Over the past decade, Indonesia has been experiencing strong economic growth, which has lifted millions of people out of poverty. However, the country's growth story has a negative side: rapid deforestation. High demand - both local and foreign - for forest products such as palm oil, pulp and paper is driving deforestation, according to the Indonesian research organization Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

A recent study by University of Maryland researchers concluded that Indonesia has the highest rate of deforestation in the world. Between 2000 and 2012, the country lost almost 16 million hectares of forest, an area the size of Greece. Forest land is being increasingly converted into either industrial zones or agricultural fields. Furthermore, illegal logging, mining and land fires have concerned environmentalists as they pose a threat to biodiversity and increase greenhouse gas emissions.

Lack of political interest in the protection
 of nature has led to growing rate of
deforestation in Indonesia

A lack of political interest in the protection of nature and poor governance are responsible for the growing rate of deforestation in Indonesia, said Bruno Vander Velde, senior writer at CIFOR.

Lack of political will

In an attempt to curb deforestation, the Indonesian government declared a moratorium in December 2011, which prohibited the approval of any licenses to convert primary forests and peatlands for agriculture or any other use. But the measure has so far failed to slow down the loss of forest area.

Environmentalists blame the failure on a lack of coordination between central and provincial governments, weak monitoring and widespread irregularities in local administration. Moreover, they add that the politicians' indifference towards the issue of climate change is exacerbating the problem.

Abetnego Tarigan, executive director of Jakarta-based environmental organization Friends of the Earth Indonesia's (WALHI), told DW that there has hardly been any discussion on environmental issues in the country's parliament.

"Economic growth and maximizing revenues by destroying natural resources is the only priority for the political class. Many lawmakers have business interests and they only have their profits in mind," Tarigan added.

Indonesia is rich in natural resources, but political parties pay little heed to protect them. For instance, during the campaign for the recently held presidential election, none of the candidates "showed strong commitment to protect the environment," Bustar Maitar, global head of Greenpeace's Indonesia forest campaign, told DW, adding that this lack of political will has become a big challenge for the protection of forests.

Weak monitoring

The latest data showed that while 38 percent of all tree cover loss in Indonesia occurred in the protected primary forests, the overall forest loss was increasing by an average of 47,600 hectares each year.

Environmentalist Tarigan said that there was evidence of illegal logging and deforestation in the restricted forest area. "Local authorities have too little capacity to monitor such a vast forest area and in many areas dishonest businessmen are taking advantage of it," he explained.

Moreover, one of the reasons for the failure to curb the forest loss is that a large amount of deforestation has been taking place outside the restricted primary forest area, say experts. "That is why the moratorium should be expanded to natural forests so that forest conversion can be monitored and reduced, stressed Greenpeace activist Bustar Maitar.

Threat to biodiversity

According to United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), total forest vegetation in Indonesia produces more than 14 billion tons of biomass, equivalent to approximately 20 percent of the biomass in all of Africa's tropical forests.

Sumatran and Javan rhinos have
 been categorized as critically
endangered

Indonesia covers only 1.3 percent of the world's landmass, but it is home to 11 percent of the world's plant species, 10 percent of mammal species and 16 percent of bird species. But continuous deforestation, illegal hunting and trading are having a negative impact on biodiversity in the country.

According to CIFOR, elephant population fell by 35 percent between 1992 and 2007 due to continuous deforestation. While the number of Sumatran tigers has decreased to some 400 to 500, Sumatran and Javan rhinos have already been categorized as critically endangered.

Watchdog Accuses Companies of Mining in Conservation Area

Jakarta Globe, Tunggadewa Mattangkilang, Mar 18, 2014

A general view of a coal mining area in Samarinda, East Kalimantan.
(AFP Photo/Bay Ismoyo)

Balikpapan. A mining watchdog group in East Kalimantan says that a number of companies are using conservation areas in the region for mining activities.

According to the East Kalimantan Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) data showed that up to 42 licenses were issued for mining activities within the Hutan Raya Conservation Park in Bukit Soeharto, Kutai Kartanegara, of which 31 were issued in a 1991 decree by the Forestry Ministry and 11 in a 2009 ministerial decree.

“It isn’t only operational licenses, but there are also five coal hauling lanes within the conservation park. The state losses — if calculated using the non-tax state revenue method — would stand at Rp 18.1 trillion [$1.6 billion] from 2008 until today,” said Merah Johansyah of Jatam. “It is accumulated over five years, and the losses could be higher because this is only a partial calculation. There are other losses that have not been included in the calculations.”

Merah said that the 1991 ministerial decree shows that among the companies working in the conservation area are Moreseni Indonesia Pratama, with a mining area of 1,991 hectares, 50.4 hectares of which are located within the conservation park

Additionally, the 2009 ministerial decree mentions Tuah Bumi Etam with a 65,000-hectare mining area, 64,000 of which are located within the Hutan Raya Conservation Park, while companies identified as Lembuswana Perkasa and Energi Bumi Kartanegara reportedly owned hauling lanes from 2007 and 2010 respectively.

Jatam says it has filed the case to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) late in 2013, with regional officials and Forestry Ministry officials being named in its report.

“We have reported this case to the KPK, so we hope the KPK will immediately launch an investigation into this case so it can put behind bars the officials or businesses who have caused damage to the environment,” Merah said.

He also called on Kutai Kartanegara district chief Rita Widyasari to look into the matter and revoke operational licenses that were issued in violation of the law.

“The licenses have to be revoked if [the authorities] are serious in cleaning up the mining sector in Kutai Kartanegara, especially where bad mining companies are concerned,” he said.

Related Articles:

Coal Rush Ravages Indonesian Borneo

Indonesia struggles to clean up corrupt forestry sector

Google – AFP, Angela Dewan (AFP), 1 January 2014

Timber workers chat along a dirt road in the forests in Berau, East Kalimantan,

November 13, 2013 (AFP, Bay Ismoyo)

Berau — Deep in the forests of Borneo island, workmen from an Indonesian timber company fell a tree with a chainsaw, stick a red tag with a serial number onto it and attach a corresponding stub to the stump.

This is all part of an arduous auditing process, one of many government attempts to clamp down on illegal logging and clean up one of the country's most corrupt and mismanaged sectors as Western countries demand proof their timber imports are legal.

Following an agreement signed with the European Union in September, Jakarta is rolling out a system under which companies holding government-issued permits are given a certificate to prove their wood is harvested within the law.

Logged trees and their identity tags in

 Berau, East Kalimantan, November 13,

2013 (AFP, Bay Ismoyo)

Indonesia, Asia's leading exporter of timber to the EU, is hoping the pact will help it double timber exports to Europe to the tune of $2 billion a year.

But critics say logging permits considered legal are often obtained through illegal means, and laws passed in Europe, the US and Australia to give consumers a clear conscience do little to tackle under-the-table transactions that compromise the sector.

?This system is basically asking, do you have a permit, and if you do, that box is ticked. It?s saying anything that the government does is considered legal,? said Emily Harwell, lead author of "The Dark Side of Green Growth", a recent report by Human Rights Watch.

"It is silent on corruption."

Indonesia is rapidly losing its forests, mostly to make way for plantations for timber products such as paper and palm oil.

According to a map released by Google Earth in November, two million hectares (20,000 km2) are lost annually, the equivalent of 10,000 football fields every day.

Bribery for permits

The forestry ministry is considered the country's most corrupt institution, according to a 2012 survey by the country's respected Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which found permits being bought from officials with bribe money was the most common act of corruption.

Timber companies in Indonesia, which has the world's third-largest expanse of rainforests, are legally obliged to comply with strict guidelines before being granted permits, such as carrying out environmental impact assessments and consulting communities affected by their operations.

But permits are handed out even when such requirements are not fulfilled, critics say, while even government data shows only 16 percent of such permits have been through the process of consulting affected communities.

Law enforcement is not only lax, it is often part of the problem. In May, mid-ranking police officer Labora Sitorus was arrested for allegedly running a $150 million illegal logging ring in the remote, eastern Papua region -- seen as Indonesia's last bastion of vast untouched rainforest.

Sitorus was caught after state financial auditors linked him to 115 containers of illegally-logged timber in Surabaya on Java island, a hub for hand-made furniture exports.

Critics like Harwell say this all means that even with Indonesia's new Timber Legality Assurance System, the mountains of cardboard packaging, dining tables and timber flooring being sent abroad with a stamp of approval are not necessarily legal at all.

Nevertheless there are some companies striving to ensure their timber is genuinely legal.

Sumalindo Lestari Jaya -- the timber company on Indonesian Borneo tagging its logs and tree stumps -- has spent years engaging with the local indigenous Dayak communities affected by its 60,000-hectare (150,000-acre) concession near the city of Berau.

Sharing the wealth

The company shares the benefits of its harvests in cash handouts, school tuition for children and basic infrastructure with four of five communities affected by its operation, and involves them in operational decision-making.

"Sumalindo didn't at first engage with the communities. But they realised that by communicating better with them, they could come up with something fair that respects everyone's rights," said Joko Sarjito from WWF, which facilitated the agreements.

The company exports construction timber, wood panelling and timber flooring to Germany, Britain, the Netherlands, Australia and Japan, and it is hoping to qualify for a superior certificate from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which also ensures sustainability and fair trade.

"To be honest, it doesn't really make financial sense to go for the FSC certificate. It's about 30 percent more expensive to produce, and the returns are only around five percent higher," Sumalindo board director Rudi Gunawan said.

"But we do it for our name, for pride."

While some big companies have the funds to venture into the brave new world of clean timber, artisan furniture makers have trouble even registering as a business, a basic requirement for a certificate of legality.

A timber company worker cuts down

a tree in the forests of Berau, East

Kalimantan, November 13, 2013 (AFP,

Bay Ismoyo)

"In many cases, the artisan doesn't want to register formally. They are often asked for costly fees and they might not feel comfortable in that formalised environment," said Agus Djalaili, technical adviser for the Multistakeholder Forestry Programme funded by Britain's Department for International Development.

Sources in the industry said there have been several cases where artisans have simply bought certificates of legality and that the auditing process could be compromised.

The forestry ministry admits there is room for improvement in the new initiative, which is not set in stone until the agreement with the EU is ratified.

We are still developing it and we are completing the text, so we are open to views from NGOs and we want to ensure our timber is truly legal,? said Dwi Sudharto, the ministry's director general of processing and marketing of forest products.

Coal Rush Ravages Indonesian Borneo

Jakarta Globe – AFP, By Angela Dewan, December 4, 2013

A barge on the river of Mahakam to load coal from the mining area in Samarinda,
 East Kalimantan, is shown in this photo taken on Nov. 10, 2013. (AFP Photo/
Bay Ismoyo)

Samarinda, East Kalimantan. Barges loaded with mountains of coal glide down the polluted Mahakam River on Indonesian Borneo every few minutes. Viewed from above, they form a dotted black line as far as the eye can see, destined for power stations in China and India.

A coal rush that has drawn international miners to East Kalimantan province has ravaged the capital, Samarinda, which risks being swallowed up by mining if the exploitation of its deposits expands any further.

Mines occupy more than 70 percent of Samarinda, government data show, forcing entire villages and schools to move away from toxic mudslides and contaminated water sources.

The destruction of forest around the city to make way for mines has also removed a natural buffer against floods, leading to frequent waist-high deluges during the six-month rainy season.

And despite the 200 million tones of coal dug and shipped out of East Kalimantan each year, its capital is crippled by frequent hours-long blackouts as the city’s aging power plant suffers constant problems.

Farmer Komari, who goes by one name, has lived in a corner of Samarinda half an hour from the city center since 1985 and used to get by growing small amounts of rice and breeding fish.

But the mines have poisoned the water used in his fields and small ponds, he says.

“The rice is basically grown in poisonous water,” said the 70-year-old, standing among his paddies, ankle-deep in brown sludge near the bare, one-room wooden shack where he lives with his wife.

“We still eat it but I think it’s pretty bad for us,” he says, adding that the water makes his skin itch.

Along with 18 other farmers, Komari has filed a civil suit against government officials, blaming them for contaminating their water sources and allowing rampant mining.

They are not seeking compensation, instead asking the government to oblige a coal company next to their homes to decontaminate the water and provide health services.

‘Cronies have done this to Samarinda’

Udin, who owns and drives a rental car and was born in Samarinda 30 years ago, said the city today has been transformed.

“When I was kid, my home was a jungle with orangutans and so many different colorful birds. But now it is bleak,” he said.

According to Jatam, a group representing communities affected by mining across Indonesia, the root of the problem is obvious — local officials have been lining their pockets with bribes from companies in exchange for granting them permits to mine.

“A bunch of cronies have done this to Samarinda. We call them the mining mafia,” said Merah Johansyah from the group’s Samarinda branch.

A general view of a coal mining area in Samarinda, East Kalimantan.
(AFP Photo/Bay Ismoyo)

Jatam and Indonesian Corruption Watch recently reported a case to the country’s anti-graft agency, alleging an Indonesian company, Graha Benua Etam, in 2009 bribed Samarinda’s former energy and mining department chief in exchange for a permit.

They say at least four billion rupiah ($340,000) was handed out in corrupt payments, and that some of the money flowed to a former mayor for a political campaign.

The company could not be contacted for comment.

Bribes are being paid for more than just permits, Johansyah said.

He said they also help companies mine in areas they are not supposed to and avoid obligations such as consulting communities and carrying out environmental impact assessments.

Law enforcement, often a problem across the sprawling archipelago of more 17,000 islands where power is heavily decentralized, is also lax.

Campaigners say that companies have ignored their legal obligation to fill abandoned deep pits once their activities are complete. More than 10 people, including seven children, died between 2011 and 2012 from falling into these holes, according to local media reports.

Coal mine destruction spreading

This grim picture of Samarinda is a far cry from what it once was — a lush jungle with orangutans and exotic birds, many native to Borneo.

It is a common story across the world’s third-largest island, which was once almost entirely covered in trees but has now lost around half of its forest, according to the WWF.

Like in the Amazon, the rainforest on Borneo acts like a sponge, soaking up climate change-inducing carbon from the atmosphere.

A recent report from NGO the World Development Movement warned the coal rush is spreading to better conserved parts of Borneo, such as Central Kalimantan.

The forest in that province is currently almost untouched but companies such as Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton have plans to begin mining for coal.

BHP said that any development it carries out in Kalimantan “will be subject to detailed environmental and social impact assessments”.

Despite the destruction, Borneo continues to attract nature lovers from around the world to see the oldest known rainforests on the planet and its more than 1,400 animal species and 15,000 types of plants.

But environmentalists warn there might not be much left to see if the environmental devastation continues at the current pace.

Agence France-Presse

Forest Misuse Costs Indonesia $7 Billion in Revenue, Report Says

Jakarta Globe, Berni Moestafa, November 10, 2013

A picture made available on May 10, 2013 shows logs on a tugboat on Kampar
 River in Teluk Meranti, Riau province, Indonesia, on May 2013. (EPA Photo/
Bagus Indahono)

Illegal logging and mismanagement of Indonesia’s forestry industry may have prevented more than $7 billion flowing to state coffers from 2007 to 2011, costing the government more than its health budget, Human Rights Watch said.

In contrast, the Indonesian government’s 2011 revenue from timber royalties and reforestation fees was $300 million, said Emily Harwell, the lead author of a report released by Human Rights Watch.

“This is a very conservative estimate,” Harwell, a partner at Natural Capital Advisors, said at a briefing in Jakarta on Nov. 8 of lost revenue. “The calculation doesn’t include any wood that’s smuggled.”

The report indicates weak governance is chipping away at revenues in the world’s fourth-most populous nation, as budget and current-account deficits this year hurt the rupiah. In 2011, revenue missed from forestry totaled more than $2 billion, exceeding the government’s health spending for that year, New York-based Human Rights Watch said in the report.

The report calculated how much wood was used by industries such as pulp, furniture and saw mills, and compared it with the available legal supply of timber, Harwell said. The supply of legal timber was “considerably smaller than what you need to produce that amount of products,” Harwell said, adding that from the missing supply she was able to calculate the lost fees.

Indonesia ranked 118 among 176 countries on Transparency International’s 2012 corruption perceptions index, undermining the investment appeal of Southeast Asia’s largest economy. Facing slowing growth, the government is trying to narrow budget and trade gaps by curbing state spending and easing restrictions on investment in some industries.

Most corrupt

Out of 20 central government institutions, the Ministry of Forestry was the only one scoring below the minimum standard for integrity in providing public services, according to a 2012 survey by the Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK. Johan Budi, a spokesman at the anti-graft agency, couldn’t be reached when called on his mobile phone, and two calls to his office weren’t answered.

“We do have an illegal logging problem,” Sumarto Suharno, a spokesman at the Ministry of Forestry, said by telephone on Nov. 8. “The case with the policeman in Papua is being investigated and we’re looking whether anyone in the forestry ministry is involved.”

A Papua-based policeman allegedly made almost $1 million in transfers to senior police officials to protect illegal logging and fuel smuggling businesses, an investigation by a Jakarta-based non-government organization Indonesia Police Watch found. The policeman has been named a suspect, according to a statement on the website of the Attorney General’s office. The police force is perceived as the most corrupt institution in Indonesia, according to Transparency International.

Plantation pressure

State losses from illegal logging have narrowed to less than 1 trillion rupiah ($87.6 million) a year, from about 30.7 trillion rupiah in 2002, because of certification requirements for timber sold, Suharno said. He declined to comment on the Human Rights Watch report, saying he has yet to see it.

Expansion of oil palm and pulp plantations to support economic growth is occurring in existing natural forests and on land claimed by local communities, Human Rights Watch said. Indonesia has become the world’s largest producer of palm oil, used to make cooking oil, biscuits and other processed foods.

Palm oil output may increase to 26.7 million tons to 27 million tons this year from 25.7 million tons in 2012, according to Indonesia’s Palm Oil Board. The paper industry plans to nearly double its current mill capacity by 2015, Human Rights Watch said, citing a report by the Center for International Forestry Research.

Forest dependence

“The impacts of this demand-led plantation expansion on communities and forests are profound and long lasting,” Human Rights Watch said, pointing to significant impact on local economies, subsistence patterns and forest biodiversity.

In 2010 more than 9,000 villages were located within state forests, with 71 percent depending on them for their livelihood, it said, citing government statistics. Twelve percent of people in Indonesia live in poverty, according to data compiled by the World Bank.

Human Rights Watch called for greater assessment of government and corporate compliance with laws protecting local land rights and compensation agreements. Forest and plantation businesses, including their supply chains, should engage with local non-government organizations to build transparent grievance procedures, it said in the report.

Bloomberg

Demands to Scrutinize Forestry Crimes

Jakarta Globe – AFP, Novianti Setuningsih, October 28, 2013

As Indonesia’s economy rapidly, swaths of biodiverse forest across the archipelago
 have been cleared to make way for new business ventures. (AFP Photo)

An antigraft watchdog has urged Indonesian law enforcement institutions to strengthen their fight against crimes in the nation’s forestry sector.

The call came after Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) released a report that showed potential state losses from such crimes totaling Rp 691 trillion ($62 billion) between 2011 and 2012.

Lalola Estele, a researcher with ICW, said the total losses had been calculated from 124 cases of forest crimes recorded by the watchdog from 2011 to 2012.

“The crimes vary from forest conversion, for example the one million hectares of palm oil projects. The second is the illegal use of forest products. The third is tax evasion, for example in the case of Asian Agri,” Lalola said at the ICW headquarters in Jakarta on Sunday.

Lalola emphasized that the problem pointed to the weak law enforcement efforts in charging the corporations involved in the foul play.

According to the organization, of the 124 cases, police had only charged 37 field operators in 20 cases, and a small percentage of company directors and legislators from the House of Representatives in six of the cases.

As such, ICW called on Indonesia’s law enforcement institutions to implement the money laundering law and the anti-corruption law in charging companies, which would make the companies and not just their officials liable to criminal charges.

“The forestry and plantation law doesn’t recognize the act of charging a corporation. That’s why most of those who are charged are individual actors in the field and not the companies,” Lalola said.

ICW’s report reflects the grim reality of prevalent crime in the nation’s forestry industry over recent years.

In August, the University of Indonesia branch of the People For Indonesian Judicial System (MAPPI) organization claimed that potential state losses in a corruption case involving Burhanuddin Husin, the former head of Kampar district in Riau province and the former chief of Riau’s forestry office, could reach up to Rp 687 trillion.

Burhanuddin was found guilty in October 2012 and sentenced to two years and six months in prison, in addition to Rp 100 million worth of fines, for practices of corruption in approving annual working plans for 14 companies in Pelalawan and Siak subdistricts during his time in office between 2005 and 2006.

The court had deemed the licenses invalid as they failed to comply with Forestry Ministry policies because they included swaths of natural forest.

According to Muslim Rasyid, coordinator of the Riau Forest-Saving Network (Jikalahari), the approval of the companies’ permits had subsequently resulted in the deforestation of 38,357 hectares of land, which, with thorough calculations, could see up to Rp 687 trillion of wasted state losses. That amounts to more than the Rp 519 billion calculated by prosecutors from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in Burhanuddin’s case.

Meanwhile, in June, the names of several high-profile public officials surfaced in a forestry corruption case in West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan and South Sumatra, which allegedly cost Rp 1.92 trillion worth of potential state losses.

“Three ministers [are said to be involved], as well as five other regional chiefs or former regional chiefs, one ministerial adviser, one regional government adviser and six company directors,” Tama S. Langkun from the Anti-Judicial Mafia Coalition, who is also director of investigation with the ICW, said in June.

However, Tama refused to disclose the names of the 16 individuals involved in the case, but promised to submit the list of names to the KPK.

“We will guarantee that these names will be submitted to the KPK,” he said, as quoted by Waspada.co.id.

The 16 individuals are alleged to be involved in five different cases of corruption, including an alleged corruption case at a state-run sugar cane plantation in South Sumatra with Rp 4.8 billion worth of potential state losses, as well as alleged corruption in the conversion of forest areas into oil palm plantation in Kapuas Hulu district in West Kalimantan, with potential state losses of up to Rp 108.9 billion.

Separately, a case of illegal logging activities also surfaced earlier this year, involving low-ranking police officer First Insp. Labora Sitorus from West Papua’s Sorong district, which further damaged the police’s efforts against forest crimes.

Labora was arrested in May after police revealed that the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), the government’s anti-money-laundering watchdog, had traced transactions worth Rp 1.5 trillion ($134.8 million) passing through his bank accounts between 2007 and 2012.

The money was believed to be linked to his alleged fuel smuggling and illegal logging activities, for which evidence included 115 shipping containers bound for China — traced to one of Labora’s companies, Rotua — holding a total of 2,264 cubic meters of merbau wood, a rare hardwood prohibited for commercial logging and for export as rough-sawn timber.

The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) earlier in May released video footage of illegal loggers harvesting merbau and other species for Rotua from forests on Batanta Island in the Raja Ampat district of West Papua, an ecologically important area with high levels of plant and animal biodiversity.

Rotua has also been reported for receiving timber from the forests of Sorong, Bintuni and other regions of West Papua, the EIA said.

According to the EIA, Labora’s network transferred approximately $100,000 to the National Police headquarters in Jakarta and a similar sum to the Papua province police chief.

The use of the money laundering law in fighting crime in the nation’s forestry sector is considered important as such practices are often used to clean up the trail of dirty money, according to ICW.

“Many of the business licenses issued in the forestry sector involve corruption, and the results from such practices would get cleaned up through money laundering,” Lalola said.

She highlighted that in the case of Burhanuddin, the court’s failure to charge the companies involved had resulted in an inadequate seizure of assets.

“Institutional crime policies have existed in Indonesia since the 1950s and are regulated in the anti-corruption law, money laundering law and others, but law enforcement officers remain reluctant in using them,” she said.