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Illegal logging includes “all forestry practices or activities con-
nected with wood harvesting, processing and trade that do not
conform to Indonesian law” (FWI/GFW 2003; Schroeder-Wild-
berg and Carius 2003). Illegal timber ranges from 73–88% of the
total volume logged in 2003, by far the largest share of all logging
in Indonesia (Schroeder-Wildberg and Carius 2003). Legal tim-
ber concessions can also be detrimental when granted in priority
areas for biodiversity conservation, but illegal logging currently
has far greater impacts.
Whilst the forestry sector is very important to the Indonesian
economy, illegal logging is costing Indonesia at least 3 billion
USD a year in lost revenues alone (Jakarta Post 2003). Officially
exported wood products accounted for 6.6 billion USD in 2003,
and unreported exports at least an additional 2.4 billion USD,
suggesting that direct illegal export is at least 30% of the total
export (Sizer 2005; White
et al.
2006). A considerable share of
this passes through Malaysia, whose mill capacity far exceeds its
national wood production.
According to the Ministry of Forestry, legal timber supplies from
natural forests declined from 17 million m³ in 1995 to less than
eight million m³ in 2000, but logged timber estimated to be at
least 70–80 million m³ (Schroeder-Wildberg and Carius, 2003).
While several hundred logging concessions exist, the Indonesian
government attempted to reduce legal as well as illegal logging
in the late 1990s. In 2004, it even proposed a law that would
punish convictions for illegal logging or the setting of fires by a
minimum jail sentence of 12 years, or death in exceptional cases
(McConkey
et al.
2005).
ILLEGAL LOGGING
1930
1999
2004
Figure 4: Changes in orangutan distributions 1930–2004.
Source: WWF.