Ilegal Loging

Indonesia

52% of Indonesia’s land is covered by forests, half of which are primary forests (FAO 2010). The annual rate of deforestation in Indonesia has varied considerably over the past twenty years, dropping from 1.8% between 1990 and 2000 to just 0.3% between 2000 and 2005 (FAO 2010). Between 2005 and 2010 this rose to an annual average of 0.7% (FAO 2010). With 94.4 million hectares of forests, Indonesia ranks third in the world for its forest cover, behind Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo. 40% of these forests are lie within protected areas (FAO 2010).

Illegal logging poses a serious threat to these forests, although recent research carried out by Chatham House found that the levels of illegal logging have fallen by 75% since 2000 (Chatham House 2010). The impact of illegal production nevertheless remains considerable, representing around 40% of total production (Chatham House 2010). Illegality in Indonesia’s forest sector has long been the focus of much NGO investigating, and this attention has played an important role in tackling the problem (Chatham House 2010). Over recent years, much of this attention has focused on oil palm production in Indonesia and the negative impact of peatland clearing on the state of the country’s forests (Greenpeace 2013, Eyes on the Forest 2012).
Indonesia was the first country in Asia to enter into VPA negotiations with the EU. These negotiations began in March 2007, and the VPA was agreed in May 2011.

Source: http://www.illegal-logging.info/regions/indonesia