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Indonesian and U.S. Laws Aim to Block Illegal Logging
FrontLines - February 2010
YOGYAKARTA,
Indonesia—It is no secret
that Indonesia is quickly losing
its forests: since 1950, half its
150 million hectares of woodlands
have been cut.
In 2007, Indonesia exported
$6.9 billion in wood-based
products. Today, it continues to
lose about 1.2 million hectares
of woodlands a year and its
greenhouse gas emissions from
deforestation could amount to
5 percent of the world’s total
emissions. A good portion of
those losses come from the
illegal harvest of timber.
To help Indonesia and other
countries fight illegal logging,
the U.S. recently amended the
Lacey Act, a law that requires
U.S. companies to ensure that
all timber and other plant products
for import into the U.S.
are legally harvested. The new
U.S. law coincides with a new
Indonesian timber law.
|
To help Indonesia and
other countries fight
illegal logging, the U.S.
recently amended the
Lacey Act, a law that
requires U.S. companies
to ensure that all timber
and other plant products
for import into the U.S.
are legally harvested. |
USAID is working with
Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry
and national trade associations
to help Indonesian
timber companies understand
the Lacey Act, control
global trade in
illegal timber, and
save Indonesia’s
quickly dwindling
forests. The program
includes an effort to
save the habitat of
the endangered
orangutan.
The Lacey Act
makes U.S. importers
legally liable for
breaking the laws of
source countries and
importing illegally
harvested plant products
such as timber,
paper, or wood
furniture.
“It’s really quite
simple,” explained
Jajak Putro, manager
of Java Furni, a small furniture
producer with a modest manufacturing
operation on the outskirts
of Yogyakarta. “This not
only assures that companies
like ours have a sustainable
supply of lumber, it will help
to save the planet, too.”
Some in the timber industry,
however, have complained that
misinformation threatens to
block timber sales to the
United States.
“Many companies still
don’t know what the Lacey
Act is. They need training on
how to complete the documents
and what they need to
show to prove the legality of
their supplies,” explained Lee
Yuen Chak, executive director
of Sumalindo, one of Indonesia’s
largest lumber
companies.
Indonesia also has a new
timber verification law requiring
all wood produce to be
tracked from the time it is cut
until it is exported. All trees
and stumps that are left after
the harvest must have identification
numbers stamped on
them to identify the wood
through the manufacturing
process and on to export.
USAID has supported the
development of such log tracking
systems.
When the Indonesian system
is in place and the Lacey
Act is fully functioning, it is
expected that the large illegal
deforestation rate in Indonesia
will be significantly reduced.
★
FrontLines is published
by the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
U.S. Agency for International Development
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by mail to Editor, FrontLines, USAID,
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by FAX to 202-216-3035; or by e-mail to frontlines@usaid.gov
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