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Update
Terakhir: Oct 26th, 2005 - 01:30:58
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 Kegiatan Logging
(Plaid Cymru- the Party of Wales) answered by Gareth Thomas MP, UK International Development Minister. ***************************************************************** West Papua 24 October 2005 Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of illegal logging and mining activity in West Papua. [17239] Mr. Thomas: The scale of illegal logging and mining in Papua has, until recently, been poorly understood. An official Government of Indonesia investigation team in 2003 was turned away by the Governor of Papua. February 2005, however, saw the publication of a damning report "The Last Frontier" by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and local NGO Telapak, supported by DFID. This resulted from several years of undercover investigations and reported that timber theft on a massive scale was taking place in Papua, to a value of $1 billion a year, mostly exported to feed the booming timber industries in China. The report galvanised serious action from the Government of Indonesia, which sent a team of 1,500 people to investigate, but no high level convictions resulted. The investigation was closed after criticism in Parliament of its lack of focus, inability to reach powerful actors, and unfair scape-goating of poor rural communities. However, the Ministry of Forestry has now instigated a review of the timber licensing systems in Papua, which DFID is currently supporting. There have been no systematic investigations into illegal mining in Papua. In 2001, the Indonesian environmental organization Walhi brought a successful conviction against Freeport Mines for breaking environmental law and misinforming the public about its responsibility for the inadequate construction and subsequent breach of a dam below its mine site that was filled with toxic waste. The dam's breach resulted in many deaths. The conviction was later overturned on appeal. DFID has been supporting the work of EIA/Telapak for a number of years, through our Forestry Programme (MFP) in Indonesia. The programme is also supporting the review of current forest management systems with the Ministry of Forestry, the Papua Provincial Forest Department, local NGOs and community groups. More widely in Papua, the programme is supporting rural communities to strengthen local institutions and map their traditional land claims in order for them to better negotiate with government and private businesses over future forest land uses. DFID also supports a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding on Illegal Logging with the Government of Indonesia, which aims to tackle illegal logging in a variety of ways but has no activities specific to Papua. The Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan, which DFID supports through the EU, foresees a voluntary partnership agreement with the Government of Indonesia that would restrict imports of illegal timber from Indonesia to the European Union member states. DFID continues to support EIA/Telapak through a new grant to focus specifically on Papua, building the capacity of local NGOs to fulfil a stronger watchdog role over illegal logging activities. DFID does not provide support to address the problems of illegal mining © Copyright 2003-2005 by watchPAPUA
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