Indonesian Forest Degradation and Deforestation - Research Paper Example

Indonesian forests Introduction Indonesia is made up of about 17,000 islands. The world’s most indigenous and biologically diverse forests are found in Indonesia. At the beginning of the 20th century, the total forest cover in Indonesia represented approximately 85% of the total land cover. Tree crop planting and plantations only covered as small geographical area by 1950’s. 145 million hectares of the total forest cover was made up of primary forest. About 14 million hectares of the forest cover was made up of tidal and secondary forest. Indonesia has opted to develop its wood processing industries in the early 1970’s. This greatly benefited the country economically and its production capacity increased by about 700% between the 1980’s and the millennium. Indonesia became the eleventh largest producer of paper and the ninth largest producer of pulp in the world. The largest number of the Indonesian population directly depends on the tropical forests for their survival. These forests act as habitat to several fauna and flora more than any other country of almost the same size in the world. New species today are discovered in Indonesian forests by ecological expeditions exploring the biodiverse tropical forests. The state of Indonesian forests is currently worrying and the country is currently at the centre of unwanted and negative international attention. The unfolding tragedy has seen both international and domestic outrage mounted on the government to do something about the worrying state of this valuable natural resource. It has emerged that, Indonesia’s economic boom of the 1980’s was partly due to the destruction and devastation of the customs and rights of the local people and the biologically diverse tropical forests. The booming pulp industry for example heavily relies on uncontrolled logging of the natural forest. They have failed to provide plantations that would be significant in ensuring secure pulpwood supply. Corruption and unlawfulness have also contributed greatly to this dilemma. Illegal clearing of the natural forests has been the routine for years and statisticians argue that about 10 million hectares of forest cover has been destroyed. What is the Indonesian government doing in terms of reforms and legislations to turn around this worrying trend? Which actors and forces are responsible for the deforestation? How much of the once large forest cover has lost since the 1950’s and how much is currently left? These are some of the fundamental questions that this essay will try to address and provide valuable information on. Discussion Indonesia is home to worlds most biodiverse and magnificent tropical forests. The uniqueness and richness in their biological diversity has seen it ranked third behind Democratic republic of Congo (DRC) and Brazil. Indonesian forests range from the seasonal monsoon, lowland depterocarp and savanna grasslands. Alpine and non-dipterocarp lowland forests are found in the Irian Jaya areas. Kalimantan and Sumatra are home to the evergreen lowland dipterocarp whereas savanna grasslands and monsoon forests are found in Nusa Tengara. About 4.25 million ha of mangrove forests are also found in Indonesia. Approximately 2.4 million hectares of Indonesian forests is lost every year. Deforestation at such a rate and speed has never been witnessed before in the world. If the current worrying trends are not checked as soon as possible, Indonesia’s richest tropical forest cover may be completely destroyed by 2015 (Holmes, 2000). These catastrophic predictions of devastating forest and species destruction are not exaggerated in any way. Indonesia is only about 1.3 percent of the total earth’s land cover. Despite its small size, it is home to about 16 percent of worlds bird species, 11 percent of world’s plant cover and 10 percent of it animals (World Resources, 2001 pp. 246-248). A large percentage of these species are found in Indonesian forests. The most beloved mammals such as the tiger, orangutan, elephant and rhinoceros are found in Indonesia. Sumatran, Javan and Balinese were found across Indonesia in the 1930’s. The Sumatran species is the only surviving of the three species. Balines also known as the ‘Panthera Tigris balic’ and Javan tiger also known as ‘Panthera tigris sondaica’ became extinct in the 1930s and 1970s respectively. Approximately 500 Sumatran tigers are believed to be alive in about 5 national parks around the country. Their accurate number cannot be provided because the tigers cannot be counted due to their nocturnal and solitary habits. Agricultural development and deforestation are some of the factors that have led to the decline in tiger’s population. The high demand of tiger products is also a contributing factor (TIC, 2001). Javan and Sumatran rhinoceros are not fairing much better either and are currently considered as endangered species. Their population has declined by almost 50 percent over the years. Approximately, 60 members of the Javan rhinoceros species exist in in the Ujung Kulon Park.Sumatra, Borneo and Malay are home to the Sumatran rhinoceros The primate specie has also been hurt by the devastating deforestation and the conversion of forest land into prime land. Sumatran Orangutan and the Hylobates Moloch (Javan gibbon) are among IUCN most endangered species. In the remaining Java forest, there are only about 400 members of Javan gibbon. Orangutans are found on Sumatra in the provinces of north Sumatra, West Sumatra and Aceh. Apart from deforestation and land fragmentation, the other cause of animal species population decline is also caused by human economic activities such as sports, hunting and illegal cutting down of trees. Corruption and forests and national parks mismanagement have also contributed to this acute decline (IUCN, 2001). There is quite a large number of people who either depend on or live in the Indonesia’s forests. It is approximated that close to 65 million people depend on the forests directly or indirectly. (Zerner, 1992). According to the Indonesian Forestry Ministry, 30 million people depend on the tropical forests directly (MOF, 2000). Most of these people practice economic activities such as hunting, shift cultivation of food crops, sale and use of non-timber and timber products. The also cultivate rubber, coffee and other crops. Rattan cane, a very valuable non-timber product is a major export for Indonesia. The rattan trade in the world is controlled by Indonesia with the country accounting for about 90 percent of both cultivated and wild rattan supply (FAO, 2001). Forests herbs and plants of medicinal value are used by very many people Indonesia. Benefits accruing from Indonesia forests are far and wide including not only forests products but environmental product too. Approximately 16 million people occupy Indonesia’s 15 watersheds. These forests protect and stabilize soils on hill slopes thus ensuring supply of quality fresh water. They also help regulate the timing and speeding of river flow. Between 1985 and the year 1997, more than 20 percent of the forests within the watersheds were lost. As a way of protecting the ecosystem, these forests also store large quantities of carbon. The Indonesian forest cover accounts for about 14 billion tons of biomass. This is more than any other Asian country. The 14 billion tons of biomass approximately stores 3.5 billion tons of carbon. The devastating deforestation in the recent years has affected this very natural form of ecosystem balance. It is argued that, the net source of carbon has recently increased due to extensive illegal logging and failure to replant. This has highly contributed to global warming. It is very difficult to quantify environmental benefits that accrue due to extensive forest cover. Over the years, evidence has shown that there have been significant decline in ecological function due to deforestation. It is still very difficult to attach monetary value to the significance of environmental services that have been lost due to deforestation. Several methodological approaches and a variety of assumptions have been used by researchers to attach monetary value to forests. It is estimated that thousands of dollars per hectare of forest land is lost due deforestation. A study carried by the Bogor Institute Forestry department concluded that the monetary value attached to carbon storage and biodiversity are so low than that obtained from the production of round wood (Bogor, Agriculture Institute, 1999). Aesthetic and spiritual value of Indonesian forests is far beyond both ecological and mainstream economies. Indonesia is a very important producer of sawn-wood, tropical hardwood and plywood. Pulp for papermaking and other types of boards too are produced from Indonesian forests. Approximately 54 million hectares of Indonesian forest cover is allocated to the production of timber. Industrial wood plantations cover close to 2 million hectares. These provide supply for especially pulpwood. It is very difficult to ascertain the value and volume of wood produced in Indonesia with accurate precision. According to FAO, the data form the Indonesian government and that from the International Tropical Timber Organization is differently compiled and doesn’t tally. It is important to note that, most of the wood produced in Indonesia is domestically used. The prices offered for timber domestically are generally low as compared to international prices. The significance of the forestry sector to the economy of Indonesia is very clear. Wood processing and forestry sectors jointly accounted for approximately 3.9 percent GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Exports of paper, plywood and pulp were valued at about 5.5 billion U.S dollars which was almost half the total value of gas and oil exports (National Trade Data Bank, 1999). In the 1980s and 1990s, the wood processing and forestry sector tremendously contributed to the export drive and growth of the country’s economy. These economic benefits enjoyed by Indonesia were accrued at a very expensive cost of completely unsustainable and bad forestry practices. Today, the wood processing sector needs about 80 million cubic meter of wood each year so as to ensure steady and reliable supply for sawmills, pulp mills, papermaking industries and plywood manufacturing factories. Indonesia’s legally produced wood from Indonesia’s forests is far less than the required amount. The remaining deficit I thus furnished by illegal logging activities. Almost a century ago, Indonesia’s forest cover was dense with tree covering approximately 95 percent of the total Indonesian land cover. Around these times, the total forest cover was approximated to be 170 million hectares. Currently, the total forest cover is estimated at about 98 million hectares. Half of this is being degraded by human related activities. The deforestation rate is accelerating at a very alarming rate. Between 1985 and 2003, the country lost at least 17% of its forest cover. Averagely, Indonesia lost about 1.7 million hectare annually in the 90s, 1 million in the 80s and it accelerated to 2 million hectares each year in the 21st century. If deforestation continues at this rate, scholars are concerned that, the country’s lowland forests which are the most valuable in terms of timber resources and biodiversity may be gone within the next 20 years (Holmes, 2000). Indonesian forests face various threats that range from small scale clearance by farmers to large-scale logging by wood processing firms. It varies from forest clearance to create room for industrial and commercial agriculture to devastations caused by repeated accidental fires. Every level of Indonesian society carries out illegal logging. These include the military, legitimate timber firms, wildcat operators and corrupt forest and government officials. It is very hard to obtain accurate and important information as far as Indonesian forests despite the speed at which they are vanishing and their importance. If there was no need of clearing forests for infrastructure, settlements and agriculture, Indonesia would today be blanketed by forest cover. It is hard to estimate how much of Indonesia was covered by forest in the distant past. However, we can conclude that Indonesia was almost covered completely with forests if we base our estimates on those areas covered by different types of forests, ecological conditions and the appropriate climatic conditions without the intervention of humans (MacKinnon, 1997). Steep mount slopes and narrow coastal are the only areas that were not able to support growth of trees. Indonesia was still densely covered by forests in the 29th century. World Bank estimated that major islands such as Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Sumatra had forest cover of close to 103 million hectares (Holmes, 2003). This was only 13% less than MacKinnon estimate. In 1950, a survey by Indonesian Forest service concluded that about 84 percent of the country’s land was covered by secondary and primary forests, and plantations such as coffee, rubber and tea (Hannibal, 1950). This survey suggested that smallholder plantings and plantations covered a very tiny area by 1950s. Colonial records by the Dutch in 1939 suggested that approximately 2.5 million hectares of land was covered by large-scale plantations. Only 1.2 million hectares of these was planted. During the 1940s and the 1950s, the forestry sector stagnated and would only reach the 1939 levels in 1970s. Rice cultivation in the 1950s was the main factor behind clearance of forests. These findings suggest that all crop plantations and timber covered only about 4 million hectares by 1950. There were about 14 million hectares of tidal and secondary forests and another 145 million hectares of primary forests. It was until the 1970s that deforestation became a real issue in Indonesia. Large-scale commercial logging industries were created at around this time. These commercial logging concessions were intended for long-term controlled and systematic production of timber. However, this was not always the case since what followed were massive degradation, clearance and conversion into other forms of land such as agriculture of settlement land. According to a survey by the government’s transmigration program, the forest cover in Indonesia in 1985 was estimated at approximately 119 million hectares. This represented a 27 percent decline from the total forested area in 1950 (RePPProT, 1990). The annual deforestation rate during this period was estimated to between 0.6 and 1.2 million hectares per annum (Sunderlin&Resosudarmo, 1996). The average rate of deforestation between the period of 1985 and 1997 was 1.7 million hectares annually (GOI/World Bank, 2000). During this period, some of the most hit areas were Kalimantan, Sumatra and Sulawesi. All these areas lost close to 20 percent of their cover to deforestation. Holmes estimated that by the year 2005, non-swamp lowland forests would disappear in Sumatra if deforestation trends as they were in 1997 continued. By 2010, lowland forests in Kalimantan would also disappear. More than 20 million hectares of forest cover have disappeared in Indonesia between 1985 and 1997. This is approximately 17 percent of the forest cover that existed in 1985. Kalimantan’s natural forest cover reduced by almost 8 million hectares from 40 million. A major cause of deforestation in the West of Kalimantan province over the years was the clearance of forests for timber and palm plantations. The central area of Kalimantan area has been hit hard by several clearances of forests for the a million hectares rice project and constant fires. East Kalimantan on the other hand has also been extensively transformed into commercial plantations and adversely affected by fires. The Southern area of Kalimantan which is the most populous of the three areas of the province have also been faced by massive deforestation due to clearance of forests cover for the development of coconuts, oil palm plantations and human settlement areas. Illegal and legal logging has affected all these provinces. Deforestation since 1997 have gradually increased due to the economic crisis, large devastating forest fires and continued illegal and legal logging. Clearance of forest in the whole of Indonesia began in lowland areas. These areas were considered to be most favorable for agriculture and human settlement due to good topography and fertile soil. Transmigration programs and clearance forests for plantations also occurred mostly in the lowland areas and gently sloping areas. Commercial logging concessions concentrated their efforts in the lowlands which they considered to accessible and with very rich potential for large-scale farming or development. These lowland forests are considered to be the most biodiverse band home to the most prized animal species and tree in Indonesia. Indonesian forests are all virtually owned and administered by the state. These forests are accurately mapped in terms of their use and intended functions by the government agencies. Forests that are under the Permanent Forest Status are controlled and managed by the Ministry of Forestry. These are forests that have been designated to be used as protection forest, conversation forest and/or production forest. The government administrative classification of forests does not match the actual cover of trees. This therefore implies that, the condition and extent of forests are difficult to estimate. The Indonesian government under the administration the Ministry of forestry is preparing maps of forests under Permanent Forest Status. According to the information from the Ministry of Forestry Strategic plan (2001-2005) and the World Bank data, the permanent forest status land officially occupies about 114 million hectares. The actual forested cover is only 86 percent which greatly contrasts the estimates of 1997 that suggested that the land covered by forests was approximately 98 million hectares. The study by Wasson, Applegate and Fox in 2000 provides more detail as far as the actual forest cover in Indonesia is concerned. These estimates suggest that about 109 million hectares represent the Permanent forests status which is about 82 percent. The actual forest cover in every category seems to be smaller than the officially allocated. The forests conserved for water and soil protection had the greatest indifference. The Ministry of forestry in 1997 reallocated the forest area under Permanent Forest Status to about 20 million hectares. All the other forest categories too were revised. Allocation on conversation forests and protection forests increased. Timber production areas were also increased. However, the areas allocated for conversion to non-forest and limited production decreased. There is a possibility that the land added to the protection forest category was taken from the limited production forest mostly on the hill slopes. This change was expected to help in the conservation of soil (Holmes, 2000). It is also likely that more of the limited production forest land has been re-designated to the production forests. This implies that, more hill slopes areas will be opened up for logging. New national parks have been established. His explains the high increase in conservation forest. This does not guarantee that such areas are protected from degradation and illegal or legal logging.According to the Forest Watch Indonesia, there was about 59 million hectares of natural forest land that was unallocated for use by any concession in the mid-1990s. There was also about 9 million hectares of land deforested due to conversion to either crop plantations or commercial timber plantations. Potentially degraded and degraded forest land occupied about 41 million hectares. How much of Indonesian forests that are remaining is ‘low access’? How much is disturbed by human activities? Low access forest refers to forest land that is far from navigable rivers, roads, human settlement or any other type of development. These forests are the most significance in providing homes for the country’s rich biodiversity. Important indicators that determine the conservation status of these forests includes contagiousness, degree of protection and their extent. There are about over 52 million hectares of low access forest and about 33 million more that meet the criterion of low access forests but are can be accessed for logging by logging concessions. It can be argued that such areas are not intact. 22.5 million hectares of land which is about half of the low access forest that are not within the logging concession areas are in Irian Jaya. 7.7 million hectares are in Sumatra, 6.5 million hectares are in Sulawesi and 9.2 million hectares are in Kalimantan. Of all these, a mere 2.4 million hectares are in Maluku and in parts of Bali, Nusa Tenggra and Java. Low forest areas are less important than individual contagious forest locks for different species. When a habitat is encroached into by human activities, specie populations are destroyed to the point that they are less viable. Among the first countries to sign the Convention on Biological Diversity was Indonesia. It was also among the first countries to prepare the National Biodiversity Action and Strategy Plan. A good part of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action plan was implemented during the 1990s. A good example is the increase of the Protected Area System and development of various conservation areas e.g. the Tigapuluh national Park. Despite the implementation of the Action plan, Indonesia’s conservation efforts were still insignificant (World Bank, 2002). Indonesia is currently undergoing species extinction due to the adverse destruction of natural habitats mostly in the lowland forest areas and marine, freshwater and coastal ecosystems (World Bank, 2001). The alarming loss of biodiversity may have been due to habitat loss, but degradation and habitat fragmentation, poaching and hunting have also greatly contributed. About 9.2 million hectares of low access forest are actually protected. However, these protected areas have very weak defenses that are not keeping out illegal loggers. The boundaries are unable to protect the forests against poaching and agricultural encroachment which are major factors that are contributing to deforestation. Only about 1.3 million hectares of low access lands are simultaneously protected and are within logging areas. Rampant illegal logging and settlement in some of the best protected areas those are important in terms of donor programming. About 30000 hectares in the north part of Sumatra’s Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park was lost in the recent years due to illegal logging (World Bank, 2002). National parks as protected areas can also be affected by encroachment by the estate crop plantations. The conflict caused by social, political, environmental and economic interests need to be speedily reconciled. The major cause of deforestation and forest degradation is majorly caused due to the corrupt economic and political system. Corrupt leaders have considered forests as natural resources as revenue source that should be exploited for personal gains and political ends. During the Suharto regime, the lucrative returns of the plantation crops and wood processing industries were corruptly used to please family, potential allies and friends. The output of forests products have increased significantly over the years in Indonesia. Former forest lands have been used to grow plantation crops. Today, Indonesia is the global leader in the production of sawnwood, logs, paper, woodpulp and plywood. It is also the leading producer of planation crops such as cocoa, palm oil and rubber. These significant economic developments were achieved with absolutely no regard to the sustainability of forests. Most of the forests in Indonesia are meant for production of timber on a selective-felling basis. The logging concessions which were established in the 1970s override the traditional land ownership patterns. Poor supervision of forests has led to overexploitation of production forests. Commercial timber plantations have been greatly subsidized and promoted in order to relieve the natural forests of the pressure exerted on them. Conclusion Indonesia was at one time one of the countries densely forested. This was about 60 years ago. Today it is experiencing the most alarming rate of forest degradation and deforestation in the world. In general, Indonesia forest cover fell by 72 million hectares from 162 million hectares to 98 million hectares. The rate of forest loss I Indonesia for the last 60 years has accelerated alarmingly up to about 2 million hectares of forest land per year. Indonesia’s tropical lowland forests that are rich in biodiversity and timber resources are the one with most risk. In Sulawesi, these forests have been completely cleared. They are predicted to disappear in Kalimantan and Sumatra in the near future if the current loss rate is not curbed. Fragmentation by road networks, other developments and access routes have covered close to half of Indonesia’s forests. Degradation and deforestation in Indonesia has largely been due to corrupt economic and political systems which have misused the lucrative gains of the forests for personal and political gains. Clearance of forests for agriculture by small-scale farmers is not considered a major contributor to deforestation. Expansion of paper and pulp industries in Indonesia has led to a high demand on wood fibre which the legal logging level cannot satisfy. This has led to illegal logging which is estimated to have destroyed close to 10 million hectares of forest cover. A large number of wood-processing industries recognize and acknowledge their reliance on illegal logging to meet their customer demand. As efforts of relieving pressure from natural forests due to both legal and illegal logging, the Indonesian government has opted to promote and greatly subsidize commercial timber plantations. This has led to the clearance of large tracts of natural forest to create space for plantations. Due to the loss of more than 20 million hectares of forest land, the Indonesian government is putting measures into place that would ensure reduction in overdependence on forests and forest products. Systems for monitoring deforestation such as the center for Global Development have been applied. Up-to-date data on deforestation and status of Indonesian forests is currently available. The government also entered into understanding Norway government that would see in put a two-year moratorium on all new logging concession and receive close to 1 billion U.S dollar if it meets this requirement. 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