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nvironmentalists have voiced grave concerns and blamed weak law enforcement as the main factor behind the rapid pace of deforestation and conversion of protected and conservation forests.

Indonesia Nature Lovers (Kappala) activist Wahyu Giri Prasetyo said only a small fraction of environmental violators were brought to justice, despite the fact that their violations, especially illegal forest clearing, are widely regarded as the most serious threat to the sustainability of forests from economic, ecological and social perspectives.

Based on data from Meru Betiri National Park (TNMB) and Jember Natural Resources and Conservation Center (BKSDA), the environmental violations and forest conversion in Jember regency has been accelerating from year to year.

Illegal logging in the TNMB area, for example, has shown a marked increase since 2006. That year, 41 forest violation cases were recorded. The number steadily increased 63 cases in 2007 and then 98 in 2008. As of September 2009, 92 cases have been reported.

Of a total 286 cases from 2006 to September this year, the majority (188) were illegal logging cases, 52 involved non-timber product theft, 38 were animal poaching cases and eight were illegal forest conversion cases.

A large percentage of cases violating the 1999 Law on Forestry received sentences of between three and eight months' imprisonment and fined between Rp 100,000 (US$10) and Rp 500,000.

"There is clearly no deterrent," said Giri. "Consequently, forest violations prevail, and have even increased, given the huge number of repeat offenders," he said.

Punishments had been too lenient, TNMB administrative affairs chief Sumarsono said.

"Besides the forestry law, they should have been charged for having violated the environmental law, because of their impacts on the lives of many people," Sumarsono said.

He hoped that with minimum sentences for environmental violations, illegal loggers would face much tougher penalties.

Jember Prosecutor's Office general crimes chief Ahmad Sujayanto shared similar views, but said because of their socioeconomic status, people in Jember (particularly forest violators) were not prepared for stern punishment.

"They are poor and unaware of their ecological impacts," he said.

The most important factor in handling forest damage in Jember was prevention, Ahmad said, adding that forest managers needed to develop ways to prevent forest destruction.

The administration of protected and conservation forests tend to position members of the community as outsiders who pose a threat to their work.

Jember University (UNEJ) School of Agriculture environmental management head R. Soedrajad said communities living around forests were never involved in the formation of policies related to the protection and conservation of forests.

As a consequence, residents do not have a sense of belonging because they were not involved in protecting forests, he said.

"The key is community involvement," Soedrajad said.