This report, The State of the Forest: Indonesia, is aproduct of Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI) andGlobal Forest Watch (GFW). FWI was initiated inlate 1997 by some 20 nongovernmental organiza-tions to play its role as a civil society component,which encourages acceleration of the democratiza-tion process in terms of forest resources allocationand management in Indonesia. GFW was launchedin 1998 by the World Resources Institute (WRI) towork in alliance with nongovernmental organiza-tions and local leaders from forested countriesaround the world.

Forest Watch Indonesia seeks to develop indepen-dent citizen capacity to gather, process and dis-seminate forest data, maps and policy-relevantinformation about what is happening toIndonesia’s forests and forest-dependent peoples.FWI is an independent forest monitoring networkmade up of individuals and organizations that arecommitted to realizing sustainable forest manage-

ment in Indonesia. The objective of FWI’s pro-grams is to build and develop data on forests andforest issues, and to promote information transpar-ency in Indonesia by strengthening alternative dataand information provision.

Global Forest Watch seeks to make informationavailable rapidly to an ever wider audience byproviding forest information and maps on-line anddeveloping a Website (www.globalforestwatch.org)to post results from its multiple field and coopera-tive activities in Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Gabon,Indonesia, Russia, and Venezuela. Reports, mapsand information from credible sources will beavailable for downloading. Anyone with access tothe Internet can consult GFW data and contributeby providing information or views directly on-line.We hope that the array of products and activitieswill lead to a more constructive dialogue betweenforest managers and users at the local, national,and international levels.

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Projection: Lambert Equal-area Azimuthal Reference Latitude: 6 North Central Meridian: 126 East

ACEH

NORTH SUMATRA

RIAU WESTSUMATRA

JAMBI

LAMPUNG

WESTKALIMANTAN

EASTKALIMANTAN

CENTRALKALIMANTAN

SOUTHKALIMANTAN

WEST JAVACENTRAL JAVA

EAST JAVA

BALI

WEST NUSA TENGGARA

EAST NUSA TENGGARA EAST TIMOR

BRUNEI

CAMBODIATHAILAND

IRIAN JAYA(PAPUA)

Banda Aceh

Medan

Pekanbaru

Padang Jambi

Bengkulu

Palembang

Tanjungkarang-TelukbetungJakarta

Bandung

Semarang SurabayaYogyakarta

Denpasar

Pontiak

Palangkaraya

Banjarmasin

Samarinda

Ujung Pandang(Makassar)

Palu

Manado

Jayapura

Ambon

Dili

Kupang

M A L A Y S I A

P H I L I P P I N E S

G u l f o f T h a i l a n d

T i m o r S e a

Bali Sea

Savu Sea

F l o r e s S e a

J a v a S e a

B a n d a S e a

C e l e b e s

S e a

S u l u

S e a

P h i l i p p i n e

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I N D I A N

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A U S T R A L I A

SOUTHSULAWESI

CENTRAL SULAWESI

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SULAWESI

Mataram

MALA YSIA

INDONESIA Political and Administrative Boundaries

BENGKULUSUMATRA

SOUTHSOUTHEAST

Kendari

200 0 200 400 600 Kilometers

BANGKA-

BANTEN

GORONTALO

M A L U K U

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Pangkal PinangNORTH MALU

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100°

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Restu Achmaliadi, I.G. Maha Adi, Y. Martin Hardiono, Hariadi Kartodihardjo, Fachrurraji CH. Malley,Dominggus A. Mampioper, E.G. Togu Manurung, Abdon Nababan, Lyndon B. Pangkali, A. Ruwindrijarto,Lisken L.M. Situmorang, Wardiyono

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Yasir Al Fatah, Haryanto R. Putro, Bambang Hero Saharjo, Silverius Oscar Unggul

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Rina Agustine, C.M. Dessy Anggraini, Endarmiyati (GIS analyst), Ganip Gunawan; Y. Martin Hardiono (GISanalyst), Albert T. Mulyono, Rainny Natalia, Christian Purba, Dwi Prabowo YS (GIS analyst), Rudy A. Ranaq,Mardi Minang Sari, Lisken L.M. Situmorang (data coordination and supervision, reference collection), WishnuTirta, Arbi Valentinus, Wardiyono (database programming and system development), Denny Yomaki

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Coordinators: Lisken L.M. Situmorang, Muhammad Ridwan, Arbi ValentinusFundraising and administration, finance management: Rina Agustine, E.G. Togu Manurung, Abdon Nababan,Rainny Natalia

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Charles Victor BarberEmily Matthews

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David BrownTimothy H. BrownLisa CurranCatherine Plume

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Susan Minnemeyer (GIS analyst), Esther Owubah (GISanalyst), Liz Selig (GIS analyst)

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Publications Manager: Hyacinth BillingsEditor: Sheila MulvihillLayout and Production: Maggie PowellDesign: Papyrus Design & Marketing, Washington, DC

Editor: Emily Matthews

This report should be cited as: FWI/GFW. 2002. The State of the Forest: Indonesia. Bogor, Indonesia: Forest Watch Indonesia, and Washington DC: Global Forest Watch.

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Cover photographs (top to bottom to background)1. © E.G. Togu Manurung2. © FWI Papua3. © FWI Sulawesi4. © E.G. Togu Manurung

Each World Resources Institute reportrepresents a timely, scholarly treatment of a subject of public concern.

WRI takes responsibility for choosing the study topicsand guaranteeing its authors and researchers freedom of inquiry.

It also solicits and responds to the guidance of advisory panels and expert reviewers.Unless otherwise stated, however,

all the interpretation and findings set forth in WRI publicationsare those of the authors.

Copyright © 2002 World Resources Institute. All rights reserved.ISBN 1-56973-492-5 ENGLISH

Available in Indonesian as Potret Keadaan Hutan IndonesiaISBN 979.96730.0.3 INDONESIAN

Library of Congress Control Number: 2001099749

Printed in the United States of America on chlorine-free paper with recycled content of 50%, 20% of which is post-consumer.

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Acknowledgments .......................................................................................... vii

Foreword ........................................................................................................... ix

Key Findings .................................................................................................... xi

1. Indonesia’s Forests: What is at Stake? .............................................. 11.1. 100 Million Hectares of Tropical Forest .......................................................... 11.2 A Rich Natural World Is Disappearing ............................................................ 11.3 People Also Depend on the Forests ................................................................. 31.4 Timber Products Are a Major Source of National Revenue ............................ 41.5 Assessing the State of the Forest ..................................................................... 41.6 Structure of the Report .................................................................................... 6

2. Forest Cover, Change, and Condition ................................................ 72.1 Forest Cover and Change ................................................................................. 72.2 Forest Condition Today ................................................................................. 15

3. Deforestation and Forest Degradation ............................................. 233.1 The Dynamics of Deforestation: An Overview ............................................. 233.2 Timber Extraction: Logging Concessions (HPHs) ........................................ 243.3 Timber Extraction: Illegal Logging ............................................................... 303.4 Industrial Timber Plantations (HTIs) ............................................................. 363.5 Oil Palm and Other Large-scale Industrial Estate Crops ............................... 423.6 Small-scale Farming ...................................................................................... 47

4. Forest and Land Fires ........................................................................ 534.1 From Normal to Abnormal Fires ................................................................... 534.2 The Fires of 1982-1983 and 1994 ................................................................. 534.3 The Fires of 1997-1998 ................................................................................. 544.4 Government Response to Forest and Land Fires ........................................... 57

5. The Prospects for Forest Policy Reform ........................................... 595.1 The Forest Policy Context: A Country in Crisis ............................................ 595.2 Political Paralysis at the Center ..................................................................... 605.3 Separatism and Demands for Decentralization in the Provinces ................... 605.4 Spreading Civil Violence and the Breakdown of Law and Order ................. 615.5 Conflicts over Forest Lands and Resources ................................................... 615.6 The Agenda and Prospects for Policy Reform............................................... 66

Notes ................................................................................................................. 6 8

Glossary ........................................................................................................... 7 2

References ........................................................................................................ 7 4

Annex 1: Guest Commentaries on Data Difficulties ................................ 77

Annex 2: Tables .............................................................................................. 81

Annex 3: Data Sources and Technical Notes ............................................. 85

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1.1 Biotic Richness: Percent of World’s SpeciesFound in Indonesia .................................................................... 1

2.1 Deforestation from the Preagricultural Era to 1997 ................. 92.2 Changes in Forest Cover in Sumatra, 1900–2010 .................. 142.3 Changes in Forest Cover in Kalimantan, 1900–2010 ............ 142.4 Changes in Forest Cover in Sulawesi, 1900–2100 ................. 142.5 Allocated Forest Function and Actual Forest Cover, 1997 .... 163.1 Processes of Forest Degradation and

Deforestation in Indonesia ...................................................... 253.2 Production and Export of Logs, 1961–1999 .......................... 263.3 Production and Export of Plywood, 1961–1999 .................... 263.4 Concession Area in Major Provinces, 1985–1998 ................. 273.5 Industrial Roundwood Production, 1980–2000 ..................... 323.6 Installed Capacity in the Wood Processing

Industries, 1999 ....................................................................... 333.7 Installed Capacity and Production in the

Pulp Industry, 1990–2001 ....................................................... 403.8 Installed Capacity and Production in the

Paper & Paperboard Industry, 1990–2001 ............................. 403.9 Growth in Area of Oil Palm Plantations, 1967–2000 ............ 43

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1.1 The Wallace Line ...................................................................... 22.1 Data Sources and Difficulties ................................................. 102.2 Impacts of Logging on Dipterocarp Forests ........................... 172.3 Oil Palm Development in Gunung Leuser National Park ...... 213.1 Common Illegal Practices of Timber Companies .................. 293.2 What Do We Mean by Illegal Logging? ................................. 313.3 Illegal Logging: A Tale of Two National Parks ...................... 343.4 Some Cases in Which Companies Have Developed Industrial

Timber Plantations in Productive Natural Forest ................... 373.5 Illegal Use of Logging Concession Land for

Oil Palm in Northern Sumatra ................................................ 443.6 Clearing Natural Forests for Estate Crops on Small Islands:

The Case of Wawonii Island in Southeast Sulawesi Province . 463.7 Transmigration and Forest Clearance ..................................... 484.1 The Oil Palm-Forest Fire Connection:

Why Do People Set Fires? ...................................................... 565.1 Regional Autonomy and Forest Management ........................ 625.2 National Parks and Indigenous People:

Cooperation or Conflict? Two Cases From Sulawesi ............. 655.3 Indonesia’s 12 Commitments to the Consultative Group on

Indonesia Concerning Forests and Forest Policy ................... 67

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1.1 Indonesia’s Leading Exports, 1997 .......................................... 52.1 Forest Cover in 1950 ................................................................. 82.2 Forest Area and Deforestation, 1985–1997 ............................ 12

(GOI/World Bank Estimate)2.3 Forest Area and Deforestation, 1985–1997

(GFW Estimate) ...................................................................... 132.4 Loss of Lowland Forest in Sumatra, Kalimantan,

and Sulawesi, 1900–1997 ....................................................... 142.5 Revisions to Permanent Forest Status

Between 1986 and 2000 ......................................................... 162.6 Natural Forest, Potentially Degraded Forest,

and Deforested Area, Mid-1990s ............................................ 183.1 Ranking of Top 10 Timber Groups by HPH Holdings,

1994–95 and 1997–98 ............................................................ 283.2 Logging Concession Status and Area, Reported in 2000 ...... 283.3 Forest Condition in 432 Current and

Expired Logging Concessions ................................................ 293.4 Timber Supply from All Legal Sources .................................. 323.5 Estimated Timber Supply-Demand Imbalance, 1997–98 ...... 333.6 Allocation and Planting of Industrial Timber

Plantations (HTIs), to December 2000 ................................... 383.7 Forested Versus Nonforested Area in 6 Industrial

Timber Plantation Concessions .............................................. 413.8 HPH Logging Concessions Converted to HTI Concessions,

to 1998, by Province ............................................................... 413.9 Land Holdings of Top 10 Oil Palm Conglomerates, 1997 ..... 433.10 The Balance Between Designated Conversion Forest Area and

Applications for Conversion of Forest to Plantation Crops ... 453.11 Forest Area Released for Transmigration Site Development,

to 1998 ..................................................................................... 504.1 Estimated Area Damaged by Fire, 1997–1998 ...................... 544.2 Summary of the Economic Cost of

the 1997–1998 Fires and Haze ............................................... 554.3 Health Effects of Fire-Related Haze Exposure in

8 Indonesian Provinces, September-November 1997 ............ 57

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Map 1 Natural Forest Cover Change in Indonesia,1985–1997 ....................................................................... 91

Map 2 Natural Forest Cover Change in Kalimantan,1985–1997 ....................................................................... 92

Map 3 Loss of Lowland, Submontane, and Montane Forest,1985–1997 ....................................................................... 93

Map 4 Extent and Distribution of Low Access andAccessed Forest, 1997 .................................................... 94

Map 5 Fragmentation of Low Access and PotentiallyLow Access Forest ........................................................... 95

Map 6 Protection Status of Low Access and PotentiallyLow Access Forest ........................................................... 96

Map 7 Extent and Distribution of Protected Areas, Kalimantan ......................................................................... 97

Map 8 Extent and Distribution of Logging Concessions ....... 98Map 9 Limited Survey of Reported Cases of Illegal Logging,

1997–1998 ....................................................................... 99Map 10 Extent and Distribution of Estate Crops

in Sumatra ....................................................................... 100Map 11 Plantations in Former Logging Concessions,

Sumatra and Kalimantan .............................................. 101Map 12 Forest Uses and Areas Burned in 1997–1998:

East Kalimantan ............................................................. 102Map 13 Limited Survey of Reported Conflicts Over

Forest Resources, 1997–1999 ...................................... 103

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Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI) and Global ForestWatch (GFW) wish to thank the following indi-viduals for their support, contributions, and reviewcomments on this report:

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Rina Agustine, National Secretariat FWI, Bogor;Wardiyono, CIFOR, Bogor; Restu Achmaliadi,Jaringan Kerja Pemetaan Partisipatif, Bogor;Albertus T. Mulyono, FWI Simpul Bogor;Chehafudin, Aliansi Relawan untuk PenyelamatanAlam, Yogyakarta; Dwi Prabowo YS, FWI SimpulBogor; Hariadi Kartodiharjo, Faculty of Forestry,IPB/Bappedal, Bogor/Jakarta; Rajidt Ch Malley,FWI Simpul Sumatra/Yayasan Leuser Lestari,Medan; Togu Manurung, National Secretariat FWI,Bogor; Lyndon B. Pangkali, FWI Simpul Papua,Jayapura; Christian Purba, FWI Simpul Bogor;Muhammad Ridwan, National Secretariat FWI,Bogor; A. Ruwindrijarto, Telapak Indonesia,Bogor; Lisken Situmorang, ICRAF, Bogor; WishnuTirta, FWI Simpul Bogor; Yasir Al Fatah, FWISimpul Kalimantan, Banjarmasin; Muchlis L.Usman, Yayasan Cinta Alam/ FWI SimpulSulawesi, Kendari.

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Dian Agista, Birdlife-Indonesia Programme,Bogor; Rina Agustine, National Secretariat FWI,Bogor; Restu Achmaliadi, Jaringan Kerja PemetaanPartisipatif, Bogor; Albertus T. Mulyono, FWISimpul Bogor; M. Ali Arsyad, Pusat PembentukanWilayah Pengelolaan dan Perubahan KawasanHutan, Badan Planologi Kehutanan, DepartemenKehutanan, Jakarta; Charles Victor (Chip) Barber,World Resources Institute, Manila; Chehafudin,Aliansi Relawan untuk Penyelamatan Alam,Yogyakarta; Chrystanto, Pusat Perpetaan BadanPlanologi Kehutanan, Departemen Kehutanan,Jakarta; Wilistra Danny, DirektoratPenanggulangan Kebakaran, DepartemenKehutanan, Jakarta; Sadikin Djajapertjunda; DwiPrabowo YS, FWI Simpul Bogor; Elfian Effendi,Natural Resource Management Program/EPIQ,Jakarta; Yasir Al Fatah, FWI Simpul Kalimantan,Banjarmasin; Hargyono, Direktorat BinaPengembangan Hutan Tanaman, Ditjen BPK,Departemen Kehutanan, Jakarta; Bambang HeroSaharjo, Forest Fire Laboratory, IPB, Bogor;Imam, Planning Directorate, Ministry of Forestry,Jakarta; Rajidt Ch. Malley, FWI Simpul Sumatera/Yayasan Leuser Lestari-Medan; Togu Manurung,National Secretariat FWI, Bogor;MuhammadYusram Massijaya, Faculty of Forestry

IPB, Bogor; Emily Matthews, Global ForestWatch/World Resources Institute, Washington, DC;Muayat Ali Muhsi, Konsorsium Pendukung SistemHutan Kerakyatan, Bogor; Abdon Nababan, AliansiMasyarakat Adat Nusantara, Jakarta; RainnyNatalia, FWI Simpul Bogor; Nuswanto, DirektoratJenderal Perlindungan Hutan dan Konservasi Alam,Departemen Kehutanan, Jakarta; Lyndon B.Pangkali, FWI Simpul Papua, Jayapura; ChristianPurba, FWI Simpul Bogor; Boen M. Purnama,Pusat Rencana Kehutanan, Badan PlanologiKehutanan, Departemen Kehutanan, Jakarta;Haryanto R. Putro, Faculty of Forestry IPB, Bogor;Widodo S. Ramono, Direktorat KonservasiKawasan, Direktorat Jenderal Perlindungan Hutandan Konservasi Alam, Jakarta; MuhammadRidwan, National Secretariat FWI, Bogor; WilliamM. Rombang, Birdlife-Indonesia Programme,Bogor; A. Ruwindrijarto, Telapak Indonesia,Bogor; Harry Santoso, Pusat Pengukuhan danPenatagunaan Kawasan Hutan Badan PlanologiKehutanan, Departemen Kehutanan, Bogor; ImanSantoso, Forest Inventory and Monitoring Project,Ministry of Forestry, Jakarta; William Sunderlin,CIFOR, Bogor; Jatna Supriatna, ConservationInternational-Indonesia Programme, Jakarta;Wishnu Tirta, FWI Simpul Bogor; Silverius OscarUnggul, Yayasan Cinta Alam/ FWI SimpulSulawesi, Kendari; Arbi Valentinus, FWI SimpulBogor/Telapak, Bogor; Joko Waluyo, Sawit Watch/Walhi, Jakarta.

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Global Forest Watch and Forest Watch Indonesiawould also like to thank the many other individualswho provided data, valuable comments on data,and much wise advice during the preparation ofthis report. These individuals are too numerous tolist, but we are particularly grateful to DerekHolmes, consultant to the World Bank, and NeilScotland, UK Department for International Devel-opment (DFID).

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Timothy H. Brown, Natural Resource ManagementProgram, United States Agency for InternationalDevelopment, Jakarta; Dirk Bryant, Tony Janetos,Ralph Ridder, Frances Seymour, and Dan Tunstall,World Resources Institute, Washington, DC; NigelSizer, The Nature Conservancy, Jakarta; WilliamSunderlin, CIFOR, Bogor; Thomas E. Walton,World Bank, Jakarta.

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Global Forest Watch would like to thank thefollowing donors for their overall support of GlobalForest Watch Activities: AVINA, the United StatesAgency for International Development (USAID),the Department for International Development(DFID) UK, IKEA, the Netherlands Ministry ofForeign Affairs, the Turner Foundation, theBiodiversity Support Program (BSP), and theWorld Resources Institute.

Forest Watch Indonesia would like to thank theNatural Resources Management-EPIQ Program ofthe United States Agency for International Devel-opment (USAID), the Netherlands Committee forthe World Conservation Union (NC-IUCN), andthe Department for International Development(DFID) UK, for their specific support of ForestWatch Indonesia activities in Indonesia. FWIwould also like to thank IKEA for providing fundsto GFW in support of low access mapping inIndonesia.

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Indonesia is endowed with some of the mostextensive and biologically diverse tropical forestsin the world. Tens of millions of Indonesiansdepend directly on these forests for their liveli-hoods, whether gathering forest products for theirdaily needs or working in the wood-processingsectors of the economy. The forests are home to anabundance of flora and fauna unmatched in anycountry of comparable size. Even today, almostevery ecological expedition that sets out to exploreIndonesia’s tropical forests returns with discoveriesof new species.

But a tragedy is unfolding in Indonesia. Thecountry now finds itself the unwelcome center ofworld attention, as domestic and internationaloutrage mounts over the rampant destruction of agreat natural resource. Indonesia’s “economicmiracle” of the 1980s and 1990s turns out to havebeen based, in part, on ecological devastation andabuse of local people’s rights and customs. Forexample, one of the country’s fastest growingsectors, the pulp and paper industry, has notestablished the plantations necessary to provide asecure supply of pulpwood. Instead, pulpmills relylargely on wholesale clearing of natural forest. Theeconomy is plagued by lawlessness and corruption.Illegal logging has been rampant for years and isbelieved to have destroyed some 10 million ha offorest. Indonesia’s wood-processing industriesoperate in a strange legal twilight, in which majorcompanies that – until the economic crisis of 1997– attracted billions of dollars in Western invest-ment, obtain more than half their wood supplies

from illegal sources. Wood is routinely smuggledacross the border to neighboring countries, costingthe Indonesian government millions of dollars inlost revenues each year.

Although the evidence of destruction is mounting,the picture has been muddied by conflicting data,disinformation, claim and counterclaim. The needfor an objective appraisal of the situation is urgent– one that will provide a sound information basefor every individual and organization seeking tobring about positive change.

The data difficulties are formidable, but this reportsets out to meet that need. It provides a compre-hensive summary of the scale and pace of changeaffecting Indonesia’s forests and identifies theforces and actors that are driving deforestation.Forest Watch Indonesia and Global Forest Watchhave compiled the best available official data andreports from environmentalists in the field toaddress the following questions: How much ofIndonesia’s forest cover is left, and how much hasbeen lost over the past 50 years? What is thecondition of remaining forest cover today? Whatare the major driving forces behind deforestation,and who are the principal actors? Given currentpolitical and economic conditions in Indonesia,what are the prospects for forest policy reform?

Our findings do not provide grounds for muchoptimism, despite clear signs of change in Indone-sia. The major bilateral and multilateral donors arenow working actively with the Indonesian govern-

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reclaim the land that currently lies idle and con-serve the primary forest that remains. Sixty fourmillion hectares of forest have been cut down overthe past 50 years. There is no economic or ethicaljustification for another 64 million hectares to belost over the next 50 years.

Togu ManurungDirector, Forest Watch Indonesia

Jonathan LashPresident, World Resources Institute

ment to develop a strategy and action plan forreform. The Indonesian Ministry of Forestry iscommitted to implementing specific actions at thenational level and has recently endorsed a wide-ranging regional plan to combat illegal logging.

Yet even if current policy reforms are successful, itis clear that Indonesia is in transition from being aforest-rich country to a forest-poor country, follow-ing the path of the Philippines and Thailand.Millions of hectares of former forest are nowcovered in degraded forest remnants, scrub, and theubiquitous alang-alang grass. With this loss of forest,Indonesia is losing biodiversity, wood supply,income, and ecosystem services.

Degraded forest lands can be replanted and man-aged to provide wood, tree crops, fruits, and othernontimber products. Ecosystem services such asfreshwater regulation and soil retention can berestored. Part of the tragedy of Indonesia’s forestsis that the current industrial timber plantationprogram, and the system of forest conversion to

plantation crops, have not contributed to sustain-able forest management but rather have accelerateddeforestation. Officially, decisions in the forestsector are no longer oriented toward clearance andconversion but, in reality, clearance and conversioncontinue. The system should be restructured torequire the establishment of new plantations on thevast areas of degraded land that are already avail-able for planting. The requirement should be en-forced.

Indonesia is at a crossroads where much of itsnatural resource base has been destroyed or de-graded, but much still remains. Land developmentfor plantations to supply timber and valuableexport crops is a vital part of the country’s eco-nomic strategy. In coming years, the easier routewill be to allow logging operations and plantations– and the wasted land that accompanies theirdevelopment – to spread over the remaining naturalforests, rewarding developers with huge unearnedwindfall profits from forest clearance. The harderbut ultimately more sustainable route will be to

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relatives and political allies. Cronyism in theforestry sector left timber companies free tooperate with little regard for long-termsustainability of production.

• As part of the effort to boost Indonesia’s exportrevenues, and to reward favored companies, atleast 16 million ha of natural forest have beenapproved for conversion to industrial timberplantations or agricultural plantations. In manycases, conversion contradicted legal require-ments that such plantations be established onlyon degraded land or on forest land alreadyallocated for conversion.

• Aggressive expansion of Indonesia’s pulp andpaper industries over the past decade hascreated a level of demand for wood fiber thatcannot currently be met by any sustainabledomestic forest management regime.

• Forest clearance by small-scale farmers is asignificant but not dominant cause of deforesta-tion.

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• Illegal logging, by definition, is not accuratelydocumented. But a former senior official of theMinistry of Forestry recently claimed that theftand illegal logging have destroyed an estimated10 million ha of Indonesian forests.

• Massive expansion in the plywood, pulp, andpaper production sectors over the past twodecades means that demand for wood fiber nowexceeds legal supplies by 35-40 million cubicmeters per year.

• This gap between legal supplies of wood anddemand is filled by illegal logging. Many woodprocessing industries openly acknowledge theirdependence on illegally cut wood, whichaccounted for approximately 65 percent of totalsupply in 2000.

• Legal logging is also conducted at an unsustain-able level. Legal timber supplies from naturalproduction forests declined from 17 millioncubic meters in 1995 to under 8 million cubicmeters in 2000, according to recent statisticsfrom the Ministry of Forestry. The decline hasbeen offset in part by timber obtained fromforests cleared to make way for plantations. Butthis source appears to have peaked in 1997.

• Industrial timber plantations have been widelypromoted and subsidized as a means of supply-ing Indonesia’s booming demand for pulp andtaking pressure off natural forests. In practice,millions of hectares of natural forest have beencleared to make way for plantations that, in 75percent of cases, are never actually planted.

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• Indonesia was still densely forested as recentlyas 1950. Forty percent of the forests existing in1950 were cleared in the following 50 years. Inround numbers, forest cover fell from 162million ha to 98 million ha.

• The rate of forest loss is accelerating. Onaverage, about 1 million ha per year werecleared in the 1980s, rising to about 1.7 millionha per year in the first part of the 1990s. Since1996, deforestation appears to have increased toan average of 2 million ha per year.

• Indonesia’s lowland tropical forests, the richestin timber resources and biodiversity, are most atrisk. They have been almost entirely cleared inSulawesi and are predicted to disappear inSumatra by 2005 and Kalimantan by 2010 ifcurrent trends continue.

• Nearly one half of Indonesia’s forests arefragmented by roads, other access routes, andsuch developments as plantations.

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• Logging concessions covering more than halfthe country’s total forest area were awarded byformer President Suharto, many of them to his

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• Nearly 9 million ha of land, much of it naturalforest, has been allocated for development asindustrial timber plantations. This land hasalready been cleared or will be cleared soon.Yet only about 2 million ha have actually beenplanted with fast-growing species, mostlyAcacia mangium, to produce pulpwood. Theimplication: 7 million ha of former forest landare lying idle.

• Nearly 7 million ha of forest had been approvedfor conversion to estate crop plantations by theend of 1997, and this land has almost certainlybeen cleared. But the area actually converted tooil palm plantations since 1985 is about 2.6million hectares, while new plantations of otherestate crops probably account for another 1-1.5million ha. The implication: 3 million ha offormer forest land are lying idle.

• No accurate estimates are available for the areaof forest cleared by small-scale farmers since1985, but a plausible estimate in 1990 sug-gested that shifting cultivators might be respon-sible for about 20 percent of forest loss. Thiswould translate to clearance of about 4 millionha between 1985 and 1997.

• The transmigration program that relocatedpeople from densely populated Java to the outerislands was responsible for about 2 million haof forest clearance between the 1960s and theprogram’s end in 1999. In addition, illegalmigration and settlement by pioneer farmers at

the margins of logging concessions, alongroads, and even in national parks has greatlyaccelerated since 1997, but reliable national-scale estimates of forest clearance by forestpioneers have not been made.

• Large-scale plantation owners have turned tothe use of fire as a cheap and easy means ofclearing forest for further planting. Deliberatefire-setting, in combination with unusually dryconditions caused by El Niño events, has led touncontrolled wildfires of unprecedented extentand intensity. More than 5 million ha of forestburned in 1994 and another 4.6 million haburned in 1997-98. Some of this land is regen-erating as scrubby forest, some has beencolonized by small-scale farmers, but there hasbeen little systematic effort to restore forestcover or establish productive agriculture.

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• In the freer political atmosphere that followedthe fall of President Suharto in 1998, environ-mental activists have demanded greater ac-countability from both the government and theprivate sector. Access to official information hasimproved, but efforts to prevent the worstabuses of corporate power have met withlimited success.

• Numerous forest-dependent communities,sensing the weakening of central power, haveerupted violently against logging and plantationoperations that they consider to be plundering

their local resources. Longstanding problems ofunclear land tenure rights are the root cause ofmany such conflicts. The government is nolonger willing to protect corporate interests as itonce did, but neither does it appear to have anycoordinated plan for dealing with the problem.

• Since 1999, Indonesia’s principal aid donorshave coordinated their assistance through aconsortium called the Consultative Group onIndonesia (CGI), chaired by the World Bank.Improved forest management has been declareda priority, and the Government of Indonesia hascommitted to a 12-point plan of policy reform.But continuing political turmoil seems likely toundermine these efforts. In April 2001, thethen-Forestry Minister acknowledged manyfailures, saying that Indonesia should not haveagreed to “such unrealistic targets.” As oneexample, the government imposed a morato-rium on further conversion of natural forest inMay 2000, but the ban is widely disregarded inthe provinces.

• Indonesia is moving rapidly toward a newsystem of “regional autonomy,” but the provin-cial and district governments that will benefitfrom decentralization are largely without thecapacities or funds needed to govern effectively.Raising short-term revenue will be a toppriority and, as a result, intensified exploitationof forest resources is already occurring in manyregions.