Indonesia Consultative Group Meeting
Tokyo, October 17-18, 2000
SPEECH BY
PROF. DR. BUNGARAN SARAGIH
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY
OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is indeed a great honor for me to share some of my thoughts and ideas with you on the current
state of Indonesia's forestry sector in this very important meeting. I would like to take this
opportunity to reiterate the commitment of the Indonesian government to achieving sustainable
forest management, particularly through implementing the commitments made at the last CGI
Meeting in Jakarta, 1-2 February 2000.
Indonesia's development over the last thirty years has focused mainly on economic growth and
has thus led to over exploitation of the forest resources, far beyond their capacity. This has
resulted in enormous degradation. The damage to the Indonesia's forests not only harms the
country by negatively affecting the long-term economic development, but is also an ecological
disaster for the people of Indonesia and the world.
We realize that the errors of past experience must not continue into the future. An important
responsibility of the new cabinet is to provide a strong basis for implementing sustainable forest
management. It is my intention that we go a long way to achieving this objective in the remaining
four years of this cabinet.
My vision of forest management is to create broad based prosperity, through the utilization of the
forest resources based on both equitable and sustainable forest management. This involves
moving to a forest management system, which optimizes the total value of the forest resource.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Indonesian government's commitments on forestry stated during the CGI meeting on 1-2
February 2000 in Jakarta are instruments towards Indonesia's vision of sustainable and equitable
forest management. They reflect the responsibility of the government in maintaining the
sustainability of forest resources and are an expression of appreciation of the concerns of the
international community. Since February 2000 we have taken a number of steps towards
addressing these commitments. However, our experience has shown that these commitments are
very ambitious, and while we have made some progress there is still a long way to go.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
GOI has established an Inter Departmental Committee on Forestry (IDCF) in June 2000 to
coordinate the multi-sectoral actions that need to be taken to achieve sustainable forest
management. The IDCF has two main tasks i.e. to oversee the process of developing the
National Forest Program, and to coordinate and support the immediate actions that need to be
taken to address the urgent problems of the sector.
We have also organized a series of workshops that have brought together forest sector
stakeholders to share views and develop recommendations towards specific actions. This is an
important step in building institution relationship necessary to achieve these commitments in a
more integrated manner.
We have further initiated actions on the urgent issues, particularly steps to tackle illegal logging,
with a focus on national parks. In addition, we have announced a moratorium on natural forest
conversion and are reassessing the existing forest resource.
We are not satisfied with the progress today. It has been difficult to generate high-level
coordination so essential to tackling these complex problems. However, with the new cabinet
installed in August 2000, and the strong mandate given to me by the President, I am confident
that we will be able to move the agenda forward more effectively in the future.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We will use the National Forest Programme process to develop a now forest management
paradigm. Based on the principles of decentralization we are initiating a participatory and
multistakeholder process towards sustainable forest management. Rather than determining forest
policy from Jakarta, this process will tap into the knowledge and experience of Indonesia's forest
sector stakeholders from the local to the international levels. It will involve local communities,
NGOs, academics, government officials, the private sector, and the international community.
Achieving this new paradigm is a long-term process and we are committed to starting NOW.
The success of the new paradigm rests largely on resolving problems of the existing forest
management system. This system is characterized by:
1. Excessive concentration on the economic aspect of timber management.
2. Inefficient and inequitable forest utilization due in part to corrupt practices
3. Failure of the rule of law
4. Lack of coordination among relevant institutions.
These conditions have led to such problem like inefficient forest utilization, neglect of the claims
by customary communities, inappropriate forest conversion, over capacity of forest industries,
poor structure of wood-based industries, illegal logging and forest encroachment which
accelerate environmental degradation, and large scale forest fires.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
My first priority is to strengthen the IDCF and associated multistakeholder working group so
necessary to achieve the new paradigm. Over the next month we will finalize an effective action
plan for the other urgent issues utilizing the results of the series of workshops. This action plan
will have specific targets and indicators of achievement, which will stimulate progress towards this
new forest paradigm, while resolving problems from the past. Some examples of the types of
actions we are taking and which this action plan will build on are:
o
On illegal logging, we have established an integrated team for field operations.
The team has already submitted 16 names to the Police for further processing,
including two from Tanjung Puting National Park. The Government will issue a
high-level political statement on illegal logging and launch a national campaign to
combat illegal logging. My Ministry is arranging further initiatives on illegal
logging with a number of international donors.
o
On industrial over-capacity and debt restructuring, we will strengthen the
coordination between IBRA, my Ministry, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and
other relevant agencies. My objective is to have a body that actively reviews
pending cases from the standpoints of sustainable forest management and
compliance with forestry regulations.
We look forward to continuing our cooperation with international donors in finalizing and
implementing this plan. Indonesia's forests are still in crisis. While progress has been slow, there
is increasing momentum and commitment to solving the problems of the past and developing a
more sustainable and equitable forest management paradigm for Indonesia. We hope that we
can count on your continued support to achieve this vision.
Thank you,