Indonesia says permanent log export ban in place

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Indonesia says permanent log export ban in place

 

Wednesday, June 26, 2002

By Reuters

 

JAKARTA — Indonesia has imposed a permanent ban on log

exports to protect its dwindling tropical forests,

Forestry Minister Muhammad Prakosa said on Tuesday.

Prakosa said around 5,000 hectares (12,300 acres) of

the country's lush forests had been lost to illegal

logging every day for the past five years.

 

" Starting on June 8, the export of logs and wood

chips, which were previously limited, has been

banned, " Prakosa told reporters.

 

A permanent ban has taken months to implement. In

October 2001, the ministers of industry and trade and

forestry issued a joint decree putting in place a

temporary ban on exports of logs for wood chips. That

ban expired in April but was extended to May to give

time for the government to discuss the matter with the

International Monetary Fund (IMF).

 

Prakosa did not say whether the permanent ban had been

approved by the IMF. Fund officials were not

immediately available to comment.

 

Indonesia first imposed a ban on log exports in 1980

but later replaced it with a 200 percent export tax.

These moves were aimed at protecting local industry

and encouraging exports of higher-value wood products.

 

 

But Jakarta gradually reduced the hefty taxes to 10

percent by the end of 2000 as part of an agreement

with the Fund. Jakarta has an around $5 billion loan

program with the IMF which is linked to economic and

legal reforms.

 

Indonesia's rain forests have been ravaged for years

by over-logging, often with government approval. In

the late 1990s forest fires repeatedly hit the islands

of Sumatra and Borneo, where much of the remaining

forest is.

 

Environmentalists said illegal logging became more

rampant after the government reduced its hefty export

taxes under the IMF agreement.

 

Copyright 2002, Reuters

 

 

 

 

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