UNOCD supports Indonesia`s effort to combat illegal logging

Thursday, 10 February 2011

ANTARA News Agency

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNOCD) is supporting Indonesia`s efforts to combat illegal logging by holding a Talk Series on illegal logging linked to corruption.

Michele Zaccheo, the director of the United Nations Information Center (UNIC), said the institution was very concerned about climate change issue in relation with the illegal logging problem.

"We are very active in combating these problems, especially in relation with climate change. And we see that Indonesia is facing emerging matters in particular, and we think that it is valuable to combat corruption through fighting illegal logging together with Indonesia," he said.

In the discussion , Rudy Satrio, a law expert from the University of Indonesia, said illegal logging was closely related to corruption and needed to be eradicated entirely.

"When we are talking abut illegal logging, it`s not merely about cutting trees and exporting the timber, but also the impact on the environment and surroundings. And in fighting it, we can`t work alone," said Rudy Satrio here Wednesday.

He also said that in combating illegal logging, new policies from the government were not needed but the most important thing was the implementation of existing laws and good partnership between the central and regional administrations.

"Indonesia actually already has adequate laws on illegal logging. However, the implementation of the laws was not supporting the effort to combat it. We need to improve the system of forest protection, like recruiting new forest rangers, renewing their weapons and also train them for their tasks," he said.

Indonesia is noted for hosting the world`s third largest tropical rain forest area and 10 percent of the global forest cover. Thus Indonesia was a leading supplier of legal timber to the world`s global markets. However, the government predicted three to five hectares of Indonesian forest were lost or about 1.6M to 2.8M hectares per year to illegal logging.