Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 6 • Number 21 • 1st December 2006

Washington Pleges to Help Indonesia Combat Illegal Logging

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Washington and Indonesia signed an agreement on 16 November to work together to put an end to illegal logging in the Southeast Asian island nation. The US pledged an initial US$1 million for programmes to help save the threatened forest habitat that is home to, among other, the world’s remaining 50,000 to 60,000 orangutans.

The money will be used to improve law enforcement capabilities through remote sensing devices and by supporting various conservation groups. The US and Indonesia have also pledged to share information on trade in illegal lumber products and to cooperate on law enforcement efforts.

Illegal logging is a serious problem in Indonesia, where 70 to 80 percent of logging is done illegally on public lands, and efforts by authorities to suppress the practice have resulted in violence and even the deaths of some forest police, park rangers and NGO members.

US President Bush said the agreement sought to “fight illegal logging while promoting trade in forest products that does not threaten the region’s environmental quality”. Carter Roberts, CEO of the environmental group WWF in the US, praised the agreement, stating that the “WWF is eager to support the US and Indonesian governments in this promising initiative because it complements much of our ongoing work to prevent illegal logging and enhance trade in sustainable forest products”.

The agreement, which was written up in a memo on the margins of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings held in Hanoi (see related story, this issue), is the first of its kind for both the US and Indonesia. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters that the US had also pledged to help the Southeast Asian nation develop biofuels and eradicate bird flu.

The EU has established its own programme to combat illegal logging and trade in related timber products, based on voluntary partnerships with exporting countries (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 28 May 2003, http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/03-05-28/inbrief.htm#3).

“US, Indonesia Agree to Target Illegal Logging,” ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE, 20 November 2006; “US, Indonesia Sign Pact to Fight Illegal Logging,” REUTERS, 20 November 2006.