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Relaxing timber rules raises fears for forest governance
Under threat: Environmental groups say the Timber Legality Verification System (SVLK) is crucial for preventing illegal logging and improving Indonesiaâs forest governance
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Under threat: Environmental groups say the Timber Legality Verification System (SVLK) is crucial for preventing illegal logging and improving Indonesiaâs forest governance. (kehati.or.id) (SVLK) is crucial for preventing illegal logging and improving Indonesiaâs forest governance. (kehati.or.id)
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span class="caption">Under threat: Environmental groups say the Timber Legality Verification System (SVLK) is crucial for preventing illegal logging and improving Indonesia's forest governance. (kehati.or.id)
The government's plan to relax certification requirements for downstream timber products has raised concern from environmental groups.
Eyes on the Forest (EoF) activist Ian Hilman said a relaxed certification policy would worsen illegal logging activities and aggravate forest governance in Indonesia.
"Illegal [logging] still occurs in the upstream timber industry. It is possible that a relaxed certification regulation will open the possibility of illegal activity in the downstream industry,' he said at a discussion in Jakarta on Monday.
The environmental activist was speaking in response to the government's plan to revise Trade Ministerial Regulation (Permen) No.66/2015, which replaced Permen No.97/2014 on the export of industrial forestry products.
Through Permen 66, the government removed an export declaration (DE) requirement, which will come into effect on Dec. 31, 2015.
The Trade Ministry said Permen 66 still needed to be revised to ease the timber exporting process for small and medium enterprises. The ministry and several timber associations started to discuss the revision of Permen 66 in a meeting last week. During the meeting, they agreed that small and medium enterprises should be allowed to export their timber products without meeting the criteria of the timber legality verification system (SVLK).
SVLK is applied to reduce illegal logging and timber trading and to improve management of industrial timber products and allow better timber legality assurance.
Ian said the government's plan to relax the certification policy had forgotten a long history of illegal logging in Indonesia and only accommodated the interests of certain parties.
"It will also open up the chance of illegal logging and weaken forest governance efforts," he said.
Zainuri Hasyim of the Indonesian Independent Forest Monitoring Network (JPIK) said that if they relaxed the certification process, all forest governance efforts that had been conducted recently would come to nothing.
"The SVLK should be maintained as it is an attempt to improve forest governance," he said.
Earlier, the Trade Ministry's director for agriculture and forestry exports, Nurlaila Nur Muhammad, said that several ministries and timber-related business associations had agreed
to the ministry's proposal for the revision of timber export requirements.
Nurlaila said parties in the meeting had agreed to simplify procedures on ironwood exports and revoke SVLK requirements on 15 downstream timber products, including furniture. The revision was aimed at helping local timber producers export their products, she said. (ebf)(++++)
