Threatened Borneo Forest Will Continue

 
In Borneo, the Forestry Department released data that the rate of deforestation in recent decades about two million hectares per year but the Forest Wacth Indonesia (FWI) have launched, in 2008 and 2009 was approximately three to four million hectares per year.
       
FWI estimates that in 2009 shows the extent of damage to Indonesia's forests have been very severe, which is about 3.8 million hectares per year.

Increasingly severe forest damage in 2009, In addition due to illegal logging, allegedly associated with the enactment of Law Number 22 Year 1999 regarding Regional Government, namely the policy of the regent / mayor issued a HPHH or small-scale HPH 100 Ha.
     In the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has managed to suppress the rate of forest destruction, namely the existence of policies to reduce the amount of CTR (annual plan), which originally reached five million m3 per year to about one million cubic meters per year.
      However, threats to forest sustainability was not over because now not arise not from the timber sector or illegal logging will but from the mining sector.
    Enactment of Law No. 4 of 2009 on the Mining Minerals and Coal are now brought the matter to the preservation of forests allegedly associated with the regulation that allows the head region (regents and mayors) issued a permit KP (power mining).
    Kaltim Distamben data shows that in 1202 there is now the province of coal companies, namely 32 companies pocketed PKP2B (Work Agreement Coal Mining Concession) and 1180 held the permit KP (Mining).
     WALHI Kalimantan data reveals that the issue was not even more severe deforestation of the forest sector because there are 166 coal-mining company that is now doing loan use forest areas so that threaten its sustainability.
     "Unfortunately, most of the land that became borrow area used by the coal-mining company that is included in the category of protected forest," said Director of WALHI East Kalimantan, Isal Wardhana.
     Morally and for the sake of saving kaltim remaining natural forests, he added, then there is no argument that justified if the forestry ministry agrees to borrow the forest area outside the forestry activities proposed by the Government of Regency / City and more than 60 companies mining in East Kalimantan.

Most South Kalimantan

     Walhi data shows that most areas are asking permission to borrow is the use of forests in South Kalimantan as much as 72 coal companies, then reached 65 companies in East Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, 20 companies, eight companies and West Kalimantan.
      Since 2001, deforestation rates in East Kalimantan (the reduction of forest area) reached 350 thousand hectares every year to cause harm to the communities in East Kalimantan are still reliant living from forest products.
     He explained that in the process the central government through the ministry should not grant permission to use forest land and loans for activities outside the forest, although in the rules or regulations were justified when the existing loan SK Menhut on forest use.
     "This request should be explored in depth given the increasing levels of deforestation in East Kalimantan and even penetrated the Forest Preserve in East Kalimantan," he said.
     Exploitation of forests in East Kalimantan will have a very significant impact on the sustainability and preservation of forests in East Kalimantan and directly affect the ecological disaster that occurred in East Kalimantan.
    Of the work of WALHI East Kalimantan, he added that in cases in the District showed Nunukan regency government (Pemkab) Nunukan had engaged in road clearing projects in protected forest areas.
     "The local district government until now has not indicated to show the public about loan use SK Menhut region Nunukan Forest Preserve District," he said.
     Nunukan regency action was a violation of the function of conservation and legislation applicable to the forestry sector.
      "Should the security forces should stop the project within the protected forest area," he asserted.
     Isal added that the new Minister of Forestry also should not be used to provide loans SK Nunukan regency until there is a profound study of the project indicated the project has been carried out considering the absence of SK loan made by the Minister of Forestry issued.
     "Regarding the coal mining, it is clear that these activities will indirectly reduce the forest area in East Kalimantan. Moreover, until recently reclaimed by some big companies in East Kalimantan coal has not run its full potential," he said.
      Lack of realization of the reclamation program was evident with the discovery of some of the reclaimed land that has not been maximally by a team of provincial Parliament some time that has passed.
      Chairman of Commission II DPRD Kaltim, Ajie Sofyan Alex explained that of all these coal companies, only a few that could actually run the program through the environmental rehabilitation of land reclamation activities.
     "You can see, in East Kalimantan are now many giant pools of ex-coal mining is still open, this issue needs to be addressed seriously in order not to cause environmental impacts," said PDI-P politicians from the East Kalimantan.
       It is estimated that the main factor causing the company "reluctantly" to fulfill their obligations to the land reclamation program (close the former excavation and tree planting greenery on it) because the funds required is very large.
Flood disaster
       At the time of "taps the reform" is opened, then in the early 2000s, there was a "boom" of logs because the head area can issue HPHHs (Utilization of Forest Rights) or HPH (forest concession) on a small scale, ie 100 ha.
     A number of areas in East Kalimantan head was like a race of small-scale concessions issued. The publication of thousands HPHHs in turn causes the rate of environmental degradation in East Kalimantan reach hundreds of thousands of hectares per year.
      Related to the authority of the regent / mayor issued a permit KP as regulated in Law No. 4 of 2009 on the Mining Minerals and Coal expected not to repeat the case of granting HPHHs / small-scale logging concessions without such controls in effect at the beginning of bergulirkan decentralization in the 2000s.
        After the era of "boom" ends of logs, then the coal is now a commodity promising because of the availability of national and international markets against the "fossil oil" that even in conditions of global economic crisis.
      Coal exploitation activities has now been shown that the direct impact is felt among people of other air pollution from dust scattered when large trucks that carry the black gold as well as flood.
     Several cities in East Kalimantan, which has to be buffeted by major floods in the annual cycle, say 10 years or five years but in recent years terkhir major flooding occurred several times in one year.
      See, during 2008 and 2009, floods in a year many times inundated some areas in East Kalimantan, among others, Samarinda, East Kutai and Kutai Barat.
      Dominant factor that allegedly gave birth to "irregularities of natural phenomena" (flooding no longer be a catastrophe with an annual cycle), which is due to increasing severity of the condition of the forest as a "cathcment area" or a rainwater catchment area.
      Apparently the threat to forest sustainability is not over, even now tends to increase due to local authority chief KP permission to publish more, even some areas like race under the pretext of issuing permits to increase revenue (revenue)
      For example, during 2009 Pemkab Kukar already issued 689 permits KP (Data Service Pertambagan Kaltim). While the data released from the Mining Advocacy Network (JATAM) East Kalimantan, in 2007, the new KP 412 permit.
       Pemkab Kukar during 2007-2009 has issued 275 permits KP. This amount represents the most se-Kaltim, followed by West Kutai (Kubar) which publishes 123 KP at the same time period.
        Looking at that fact, then the actual regents and mayors who really determine the good and the bad management of ecological sectors, including the governor's role in optimizing the function of supervision as an arm of central government in the region.