Indonesia: Treeplanting program turns into cut & run clearcut logging

Representatives of two villages in Timur Tengah Selatan district in
East Nusa Tenggara Province have criticized a government program meant
to curb deforestation in their area. Rison Taopan arrived with a small
group in Jakarta from the villages of Polo and Linamutu to denounce
the Forest and Land Rehabilitation Movement “We want the government to
return the rights to manage the [Besipae] forest to local people,”
Rison said during the rally his group held on Thursday in front of the
Ministry of Forestry. “[The program] has done nothing good for us. It
has only brought misery and drought.” The Forest and Land
Rehabilitation Movement, also called Gerhan, was introduced by the
Ministry of Forestry in 2003 to restore critical lands by planting new
trees. “There were no rehabilitation efforts in the area, only massive
logging,” he said. “We demand an explanation from the government.”

By virtue of a presidential regulation that was issued in 2007,
the movement was implemented nationwide. But Rison claimed that the
program had instead destroyed 400 hectares of the 6,000-hectare
Besipae traditional forest in Polo and Linamutu. Rison said that the
villagers had already gone to the district and provincial
administrations to air their grievances, but they were told to consult
with the ministry. Accompanied by members of the Indonesian Forum for
the Environment, or Walhi, the villagers rallied in front of the
Ministry of Forestry, reiterating their rights as caretakers of the Besipae traditional
forest. Nikodemus Manao, who came from Polo village, said he could not
farm his rice field because rivers had dried up. He said the
rehabilitation program was to blame. “We didn’t have any trouble
getting water for drinking and irrigation before, but now we have to
travel five kilometers just to get to the water source,” he said.
Nikodemus said that drought started to hit his village in 2006, or
three years after the forest and land rehabilitation program was
launched. Masyhud, the head of the information center at the Ministry
of Forestry, said only that certain individuals were at fault, not the
whole program. “It is obvious that there are rogue officials taking
advantage of the program,” he said. Masyhud urged the villagers to
submit evidence and the names of people or companies suspected of
illegal logging. Rison said that they had already done that. “The
facts are in front of their eyes.
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/city/article/7222.html