Aceh says will declare logging moratorium

Aceh says will declare logging moratorium
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta Post, 9 Mar 2007:

The Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam provincial administration is set to
declare a moratorium on the logging of forested regions in the
province.

Aceh governor Irwandi Yusuf said Thursday that both legal and illegal
logging had caused severe environmental destruction in the province,
which posed a threat to the lives of the people there.

"I have seen the severity of environmental destruction as a result of
both legal and illegal logging. Soon we will declare a moratorium on
it," Irwandi told a press conference at the State Palace.

Irwandi and his deputy, M. Nazar, met President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono to present a progress report of their first month in
office.

In the meeting with the President, Irwandi also gave a progress
report on his programs, which among other issues addressed the fight
against corruption and bureaucratic reform.

Irwandi, a former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebel who scored a
surprise win in a direct gubernatorial election late last year, said
that flooding in Aceh Tamiang in December last year, which killed
more than 70 people, provided evidence of environmental degradation
there.

As part of further conservation efforts, Irwandi said that a
government-sanctioned body had been created to manage the ecosystem
in the highly biologically diverse region of Leuser.

"I have issued a regulation to appoint those who will sit in the
body," Irwandi said.

Despite these moves, however, post-tsunami reconstruction efforts and
the advent of peace in Aceh have placed a large tropical reserve in
the province in jeopardy.

An Associated Press report last year said that former Aceh rebels
traded their guns for chain saws and were cashing in on a huge demand
for logs in Aceh's post-tsunami reconstruction.

Aceh was largely environmentally protected during a decade-long
separatist insurgency, with logging activities primarily limited to
rebels and rogue elements within the military.

But a peace deal signed between the central government and GAM in
2005 opened up previously inaccessible virgin forestlands.

Logging now occurs in both Leuser and Ulu Masen, which have some of
the richest rainforest lands in Southeast Asia and are home to
endangered rhinos, elephants, tigers and orangutans.

The Leuser International Foundation said in its report last year that
at least 120,000 metric tons of illegal Leuser logs were trucked to
the port city of Belawan in neighboring North Sumatra in 2005.

Some of the logs were later shipped to the tsunami-hit coast and sold
to aid groups there, the report said.

Aceh reconstruction requires an estimated 400,000 cubic meters of
lumber