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16

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.