Determinants of illegal logging in Indonesia: An empirical analysis for the period 1996–2010

Illegal logging is a significant problem in Indonesia, which is one of the few countries with a large forest area. In this study, we investigate the factors that affect harvesting and supply of illegal timber from Indonesia to China and Japan. Moreover, we investigate the factors that lead to the demand of Indonesian illegal timber from China and Japan. A simultaneous-equation econometric model of illegally logged timber demand and supply is developed and tested using the annual data over the period 1996–2010. We find that corruption and decentralization in Indonesia have significant and positive impacts on the illegally logged timber supply while excess demand in Japanese construction and furniture industries as well as Japan’s housing starts are the significant factors that affect the illegal logging in Indonesia. The law enforcement or policies aimed at reducing illegal harvesting in Indonesia are found to be more effective than the policies targeting the import of illegally logged timber into Japan and China.     

木材合法性贸易法规立法要素国际比较及借鉴

在非法采伐及相关贸易成为国际社会热点问题的背景下,越来越多的国家通过立法限制非法采伐木材进入本国市场。文中对当前国际上主要木材合法性贸易法规进行梳理,针对合法性定义、强制性、适用对象、保障机制、执行与管理、监督机制以及处罚措施7个立法要素进行比较分析,总结国际打击非法采伐及相关贸易的立法经验对我国木材合法来源管理的借鉴意义。     

Analysis of trade in illegally harvested timber: Accounting for trade via third party countries

The paper presents a model to analyse trade in illegally harvested timber with a particular focus on trade via third party countries. The model is deduced from the conventional input–output-analysis. In contrast to this type of analysis, inverse export coefficients are introduced to analyse the effect of a certain amount of country-specific supply, e.g., of illegally harvested timber, to the use of wood and wood products of all other countries, based on trade relationships. A database has been compiled especially for application of the model. It comprises data on industrial round-wood production in terms of industrial wood harvested and removed from the forest; recovered wood fibre in the form of recovered paper and waste wood; bilateral trade of 272 wood-based commodities in m³ raw wood equivalent (rwe), and domestic use of those commodities. Two scenarios expressing high and low estimates of illegal harvesting for all countries have been employed in the model. The model reveals the trade linkages between all countries of the world and allows quantification of the global supply and use arising from illegal harvesting. Furthermore it allows calculation of the import of illegally harvested timber for each country of the world. And finally, the model likewise allows the quantification of domestic use of illegally harvested timber for each country of the world.The results show that international trade increases the global domestic supply of illegally harvested timber by more than 70% in each scenario. In particular industrial round-wood from Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar passes through many countries until it ends in form of finished wood products in the country of final destination. Not only due to suggested illegally harvested timber in the own country, but also due to strongly developed trade relationships, China holds the lead in total supply and use of illegally harvested timber. However this result must be seen against the background of the large population in China. This aspect also helps to explain the predominant position of China, Brazil and Russia with regard to the domestic use of illegally harvested timber. A comparison of import of illegally harvested timber on the basis of “simple” (covering only bilateral trade) and inverse export coefficients demonstrates the model's merit. The hitherto usually simple approach underestimates the “real” trade by a third up to a half.     

印度尼西亚森林警察打击非法采伐的执法对策及存在问题分析

木材生产国的森林警察在打击非法采伐方面起到了十分重要的作用。文中首先简要介绍印度尼西亚的森林警察制度,以Gunung Palung国家公园和吉打邦为例总结森林警察面对非法采伐的执法对策,对其抑制非法采伐的效果进行分析,指出印度尼西亚现行森林警察制度在打击非法采伐方面存在的问题主要包括执法权限受限、地方分权造成地方政府对于林地管理部门的忽视以及经济奖励制度存在缺陷。     

Revenue loss from legal timber in Indonesia

The link between forest revenue administration and under performance of revenues from legal timber has received little attention in the literature. This article analyzes revenues from the timber royalty and reforestation fund fee, two important forest non-tax revenues in Indonesia whose tropical forest has been under threat of extensive deforestation particularly from commercial timber logging. It shows that revenue realization does not reflect potential with two key findings: first, timber royalty revenues represent only 52% of their potential, and second, revenues from reforestation fund fee suggest a counter-intuitive pattern – revenue realization is 34% above its potential. We provide plausible explanations from the perspective related to features of revenue collection. We further consider policy relevance in terms of forest revenue administration.     

Quantifying the direct social and governmental costs of illegal logging in the Bolivian,Brazilian, and Peruvian Amazon

Illegal logging is a major threat to the long-term sustainability of the forest resources of much of the Amazon Basin. This threat affects the ability of companies to manage viable forest production and distorts the way in which governments are able to implement forest management regulations at all levels. However, quantitative information about the direct impacts of illegal logging is scarce. We evaluate some of the most relevant impacts of illegal logging to government and society in the Bolivian, Brazilian and Peruvian Amazon. The impacts evaluated are loss of government royalties, missed appropriation of revenues, inefficiency in logging operations, loss of productivity and unemployment. The direct costs of illegal logging in the three countries are estimated at between US$558 to 639 million per year. Unemployment due to Illegal logging, defined as the difference between the employment required for legal and illegal logging, is estimated at 1.2 million person-days per year. The magnitude of these impacts justifies additional investment in control and monitoring mechanisms. Costs of illegal logging would be considerably higher if other impacts and illegal forest activities were quantified.     

Estimation of rubberwood production in Cambodia

We estimated the production of rubberwood from 1996 to 2011 in Cambodia. We employed data from interview surveys with three rubberwood processing companies and statistics from estate rubber plantations and wood retailing companies. The result was that the end use of rubberwood in Cambodia was the sawntimber products, being exported to Vietnam and China. The yield rate from rubberwood stumpage into sawn timber was between 11.6 and 14.9%, closely matching the rates of Malaysia and Thailand. The average production of rubberwood roundwood from 1996 to 2011 was 254,697 m³/year, of which sawn timber as well as residuals in secondary processing was 84,559 and 170,138 m³/year, respectively. Although the timber production of Cambodia has declined sharply due to the strict restriction of natural forest logging, rubberwood could explain more than 60% of the domestic industrial roundwood production from 2000. We suggest the necessity of monitoring the expansion of rubber plantations in new rubber producing countries and linking the rubberwood production with the regional wood resource management.     

Development strategies for privately owned forestry in the mountainous region of Sweden

Forestry in Sweden as well as in other European countries is characterised by intense and increasing international competition resulting in decreasing roundwood prices in real terms. This is especially the situation in the mountainous region of Sweden with long transportation distances between the felling site and the processing industries located at the coast. The question arises whether forestry must be run more extensively than at present to achieve the optimal rate of silvicultural activities compared with the amount of timber cut. With this in mind, optimising economic analyses have been performed at the stand level as well as at the level of forest estates. Results of the analyses reveal that more intensive thinning (more frequent operations) and shorter rotation periods would increase profit and offset continuously decreasing roundwood prices. Intensive pre-commercial thinning (cleaning) is especially important for profitability of the subsequent thinnings and the final cut. The large number of cuts during the rotation will increase logging costs. However, this will be more than offset by the increasing production of economically matured dimensions of timber, an effect that will be still more pronounced when using new harvesting technology. Moreover, frequent high thinning operations (thinning ‘from above’ or removal of dominant trees) will result in more dense wood close to the pith, more evenly distributed year rings, and fewer and smaller knots in the lower part of the stem — in other words more valuable roundwood which will justify high transportation costs. Several biological and technical aspects of these treatment programs are discussed in the paper.     

Effects of accelerated tariff liberalization on the forest products sector: a global modeling approach

The objective of this study was to project the effects on the world forest sector of eliminating quickly all import tariffs. The projections were done for two scenarios: (1) progressive tariff reduction according to the current schedule of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade; (2) complete elimination of all tariffs within the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries. The projections were obtained with the global forest products model (GFPM), for the years 1998–2010. The model gave market equilibrium projections of quantities produced, consumed, imported and exported for each of 180 countries, and for 14 commodity groups, covering roundwood, sawnwood, wood-based panels, pulp and recycled fibers and paper and paperboard. The model also projected world equilibrium prices. The results showed that, with or without ATL agreement, the world consumption and trade of all forest products would continue to grow along the historical trends, and the world prices of forest products would increase moderately. With the elimination of tariffs in APEC countries, the projected world production and consumption of all products would change little (less than 0.5%). The tariff reduction effects would be larger for trade, and the commodity composition of world trade would shift from raw materials to more processed products. The timber harvest would change in a number of countries, but the net effect at the world scale would be small. While the US consumption and production of forest products would change little, the US would reduce its export of logs and increase exports of most processed products. The US timber harvest was expected to be indistinguishable compared to what it would be in the absence of the Accelerated Tariff Liberalization agreement.     

The emergence of the European Union Timber Regulation: How Baptists,Bootleggers, devil shifting and moral legitimacy drive change in the environmental governance of global timber trade

The European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) was adopted in 2010. This Regulation prohibits placing illegally harvested timber on the EU market and obliges economic operators who put timber products for the first time on the EU market to exercise due diligence. So far, little research has been done to understand the politics of the EUTR. Based on 25 interviews with key informants and the analysis of 32 policy documents, this paper explains the emergence of the Regulation as a result of coalitional politics driven by both conflict and cooperation among state and non-state actors. We show that the politics of the EUTR is marked by heated policy debates and mistrust, in particular in regards to the prohibition clause and the relation between legality and sustainability. Domestic timber producers (public and private forest owners), forest industry (sawmilling, furniture, pulp and paper) and forest-rich EU member states (e.g. Austria, Germany, Finland and Sweden) represented in the Council built a CONTRA-coalition that were (initially) opposed to the regulatory changes suggested by the PRO-coalition of environmental groups and the European Parliament. The Regulation emerged through a strategic alliance between environmental groups, timber import-dependent forest industries and retailers. This “Baptists-and-Bootleggers” alliance was facilitated by an overlap of environmentalists' beliefs and moral arguments (emphasizing the negative societal and ecological impacts of illegal logging) and timber industries' economic interests (protectionism and market expansion as well as reputational improvement). The EUTR was finally adopted through the political support of national authorities of EU member states who are timber import-dependent (the UK, the Netherlands and Denmark), and the European Parliament. The paper concludes with a reflection on the importance of coalitional politics for policy change at the nexus between environmental, trade and market policies.     

Socioeconomic Conditions Affecting Smallholder Timber Management in Gunungkidul District,Yogyakarta Special Region,Indonesia

Indonesia is one of the largest teak timber producers in the world. The Javanese State Forest Company has been a major producer of teak timber in Indonesia; however, log production decreased drastically due to severe illegal logging after the collapse of Suharto regime. In contrast, small-scale private forests (PFs) owned by local farmers have expanded and are expected to be a new source of teak timber. Long rotation is a critical factor in producing a larger diameter log with a higher heartwood proportion. However, harvest timing in PFs is traditionally decided based on individual farmers’ needs even if trees are still young and of small diameter. Therefore, traditional harvesting is an obstacle to producing high-quality teak timber. The objectives of this study are to (1) identify the household economies and PF management styles of local farmers, (2) characterize the local farmers who conduct traditional harvesting, and (3) suggest key considerations for PF policymaking. Key informant interviews and semi-structured interviews with local farmers were conducted in three villages in Gunungkidul district, Yogyakarta Special Region. The study identified the household economies, the ownership and management structures, and the traditional harvesting in PFs in the three villages, and reaffirmed diversity and complexity of PFs. It appears that PF management is influenced by topographic and socioeconomic conditions and differs widely across villages. Therefore, it is important to consider the diversity and complexity of PFs in PF policymaking.     

印度尼西亚实木加工业的发展及其影响因素

近30年来,印尼首次发展成为世界上第二大工业圆材出口国和最大的胶合板出口国。分析促进印尼实木业发展的因素,主要得益于其丰富的森林资源,实木加工业处于印尼实木产品出口快速增长期,具有廉价的、专业或半专业化的劳动力,对天然林工业圆材征收较低的立木税,促进实木业发展的林业贸易和工业政策,有利的地区性市场结构。还分析了印尼实木加工业的发展前景。     

打击木材非法采伐的森林执法管理与贸易国际进程

探讨了世界森林执法管理与贸易国际进程现状, 分析了森林执法管理与贸易进程和打击木材非法采伐存在的主要问题, 并提出推进国际森林公约、参与跨国联合行动、提高木材供给国执法能力、加强消费国木材监管体系建设、重视非政府组织意见、加强行业信用评价、积极开展森林认证和引导消费者的态度等加强森林执法管理与控制木材非法贸易的对策建议。     

中国加强进口木材合法性管理的经济影响分析

非法采伐及相关贸易被认为是导致毁林和全球气候变暖的主要原因之一,对全世界的经济、社会和环境带来了负面影响。中国是全球第1大林产品贸易国,进口木材已占我国木材来源的50%以上,而其中很多来自非伐采伐风险比较高的热带国家/地区,倍受国际舆论压力。在此背景下,中国政府正在不断完善相关法规政策以加强对进口木材合法性的管理。文中采用静态GTAP模型模拟了出台进口材合法性管理政策法规背景下企业选取不同合规机制对中国和全球林产品贸易的影响。结果表明,中国加强进口材合法性的管理将改变中国木材进口格局,其产生的主要福利损失由中国和被判定为非法采伐高风险的国家/地区承担,而低风险国家/地区则实现了福利增加。     

Investigating residual effects of selective logging on ant species assemblages in Sinharaja Forest Reserve,Sri Lanka

The residual effects of logging on forest fauna and flora have been well studied in other regions of the world, with many investigations finding that recovery of species richness and abundance can occur within one or two decades after the logging event. In this study, we use ant assemblages to compare logged (>30 years) and unlogged mixed dipterocarp forest in the Sinharaja Forest Reserve, a World Heritage Site in Sri Lanka. Species richness and abundance were higher in the logged forest than in the unlogged forest, but not significantly so. Species assemblages, on the other hand, were significantly different and were associated with different environmental variables in the logged and unlogged forest. The findings from this study corroborate other studies that have shown that species composition in logged forest does not appear to return to unlogged forest composition, even after three to six decades have passed. Since this study was not a before-and-after comparison, it is difficult to confirm whether the differences arise from the residual effects of logging or from the general patchiness of species distribution in tropical forest. However, the cumulative results do suggest that there is a residual effect of logging on ant species composition in this forest, even after more than 30 years of regeneration.     

Choosing timber legality verification as a policy instrument to combat illegal logging in Indonesia

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF) of Indonesia has recently started to implement legality verification as a policy instrument to combat illegal logging. Using theories of policy instrument choice, this paper attempted to shed light on the conditions under which the instrument choice takes place. Over the past few years, there has been a significant change in political perception on illegal logging. In fact, the problem has been brought forward as one of the most chronic forest problems in the country. At the same time, there has been growing dissatisfaction on the previous range of instruments and measures. In addition, MoEF decision to use legality verification heavily interacts with the trend on import legislations in a number of countries. In fact, the trend is still “more friendly” for Indonesian timber products than boycotts. Legality verification was also preferred due to its streamlined requirements, compared to the more comprehensive standards of sustainability certification.     

符合国际市场要求的中国木材合法性尽职调查体系构建

为打击非法采伐及相关贸易, 欧盟、美国和澳大利亚等经济体纷纷出台贸易法规, 要求企业开展尽职调查, 促进合法木材贸易。文中从标准要求、程序、风险评估及结论、运行机制、企业接受程度、满足法案要求程度等方面对现行木材合法性尽职调查体系现状进行比较分析; 在此基础上, 提出中国木材合法性尽职调查体系构建的目标和宗旨及主体框架, 并讨论体系实施的潜在问题与对策。     

Impacts of log export restrictions in southeast asia on the Japanese plywood market: An econometric analysis

Seen worldwide, many restrictive policies on timber harvests or log exports have been enforced in the major timber-exporting countries in the last two and half decades. This study aims to assess the impacts of the log export restrictions in the Southeast Asian countries on the Japanese plywood market, whose supply mainly comes from Southeast Asia and the domestic plywood industries. Both plywood industries process tropical raw logs. This econometric analysis reveals the followings; the log export restriction of Indonesia, along with its policy to promote the plywood industry, increased plywood exports to Japan, leaving the amount of log supply rather unchanged. Sabah’s log export restriction and Sarawak’s log export cutback policies decreased the amount of log exports from Southeast Asia to Japan significantly. Furthermore, the producer surplus of Southeast Asian plywood industries increased notably after the log export restriction of Indonesia. The consumer surplus in the Japanese plywood market increased accordingly. On the other hand, the producer surplus of the Japanese plywood industry decreased significantly as a result of Sabah’s log export restriction and Sarawak’s log cutback policies. Consequently, these log export restrictions led to large profits for the plywood industries of Southeast Asia, and that, enforced costs were levied on Japanese plywood industry. This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for International Scientific Research (No. 08041048) from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture of Japan.     

The impact of community-based forest management on timber treeregeneration in north-eastern Honduras,with specific reference tobig-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla)

Reduced-impact logging is used to minimise the negative effects of selective logging. However, it has been suggested that low-impact logging may create too little disturbance for the regeneration of the light-demanding timber tree species, hence compromising forest productivity. This study evaluates the impact of low-intensity, non-mechanised, certified community forest management on timber tree regeneration. Particular attention was paid to big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), which has a regeneration pattern linked with large-scale disturbances. Logging gaps were compared to natural treefall gaps of an unlogged forest. There were more species of the light-demanding timber trees, but fewer individuals of the shade-tolerant timber species in the certified forest logging gaps, compared to unlogged forest treefall gaps. Furthermore, significant differences were found in the environmental characteristics of the logging and natural treefall gaps, although these only partially explained the differences in timber regeneration. Mahogany was found in over half of the logged forest gaps, whilst being nearly absent in the natural treefall gaps. However, all mahoganies in the established logging gaps were seedling-sized, indicating that regeneration may be hampered due to competing vegetation. The results of the study suggest that low-impact forest management may, at least in the short term, favour light-demanding species over the shade-tolerant ones, similarly to conventional forest management.     

A Natural Forest of Commercial Timber Species: Logging or Not Logging

Most tropical forests outside protected areas have been or will be selectively logged because the timber industry is a main income-generating resource for many developing countries. Therefore, understanding the composition of commercial timber species and logging types is key for sustainable forest management in countries like Vietnam as they move toward fulfilling Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) agreements. Seven 1-ha plots were surveyed in the Central Highland of Vietnam, and 18 commercial tree species from these plots, whose timber is widely used by local people for housing and furniture making and timber is easily sold at local markets for high prices, were analyzed. In total, 151 tree species with a diameter at breast height (DBH) of ≥?10 cm were recorded. The 18 commercially valuable species assessed in this study accounted for 33.2% of all stems (total of 524 stems ha^?1 for all species), 47.1% of basal area (total of 34.35 m² ha^?1 for all species), and 50.8% of aboveground biomass/AGB (total of 262.68 Mg ha^?1 for all species). Practicing diameter-limit harvesting of all commercially valuable species with DBH of ≥?40 cm, which is widely performed in Vietnam, will reduce the number of stems by 7%, basal area by 31.6%, and AGB by 38.2%. Because such harvesting practices cause severe ecological impacts on the remaining forest, logged forests may require >?40 years to recover the structure status of a pre-logged forest. In addition, the recovery of the 18 commercially valuable species may require a much longer time because they comprised 33.2% of stems. Permission for logging natural forests should be given in Vietnam to sustain lives of local communities, where logging has been prohibited. However, alternative harvesting systems, such as reduced-impact logging systems, should be considered. The systems selected must simultaneously generate economic returns for local people and respect the REDD+ agreements with regard to protecting biodiversity and reducing carbon emissions.