Indonesia is planning to sharply increase the forest industry’s logging quota from 5.45 million m3 to 20-30 million m3 a year.
The country’s Ministry of Forestry, which is preparing to submit the proposal to the house of representatives soon, says its plan is a solution to the widespread problem of illegal logging.
The ministry says the discrepancy between demand and the available logging quota has contributed to illegal felling across Indonesia, with many timber companies either shutting down or deciding to source illegal wood.
A quota increase is expected to take the industry’s contribution to the country to about US$9bn in foreign exchange revenue in 2005, up from an estimated US$7.8bn last year.
The ministry is also planning to create a special division to supervise the industry, supported by an audit from a state-owned assessor to ascertain timber volumes for each company and verify the legality of wood.
A further action will involve allocating RP4-5 trillion to replant one million hectares of forests.
