Bali (AsiaNews) – In order to counter illegal deforestation, one of the country’s worst problems, Indonesian authorities are offering seven million hectares to the international community to soak up and reduce CO2 emissions in the world. Governor Barnabas Suebu of Indonesia’s Papua province made the announcement yesterday at the start of the international conference on climate change in Bali.
This plan is part of a framework of co-operation between Greenpeace and the local government. “We are ready to do it with the available forest of seven million hectares,” the governor said, this against an “available forest of nine million.”
Mr Suebu also announced an overall review of the licensing process that grants private timber companies logging rights. So far the process has been abused by unscrupulous companies whose harvesting practices have tended to destroy everything.
During the governor’s press conference, environmentalists slammed the central government for issuing easy licences to forest companies who harvest the resource an industrial scale, especially for palm oil.
This industry is highly profitable but leaves a huge environmental print. In the last 25 years 18 million hectares of forests have been wiped out this way.
At present Indonesia’s forested areas still cover 145 million hectares, but are disappearing quickly.
According to a government report, each day the country loses 51 km2 in forests or the equivalent of 1.8 million hectares a year.