As Indonesians Rebuild, Deforestation Threat Intensifies

[hatrack]

"Australia and other donor countries are being pressured to send timber shipments to rebuild Aceh or risk massive deforestation in the tsunami-ravaged Indonesian province. Some of the world's largest remaining forest reserves could be permanently scarred if all the timber needed to rebuild Aceh had to be sourced locally, the conservation organisation WWF has warned.

WWF said the Mt Leuser National Park reserve and other forests in north Sumatra would be at risk unless international aid was provided in the form of timber from sustainable sources. The Mt Leuser park is one of the largest in Indonesia, covering 950,000 hectares and is considered a critical bulwark against global warming, as well as a home to endangered orang-utan apes.

The executive director of WWF in Indonesia Mubariq Ahmad said the organisation had developed rebuilding guidelines for Aceh to strengthen communities and help protect the environment. Chief among them was a call for imported timber to be provided to aid the reconstruction and minimise environmental impacts.

It would also help minimise the threat posed by rampant illegal logging in Indonesia. WWF and the Indonesian policy research institution Greenomics estimated that just over one million cubic metres of logs would be needed to rebuild Aceh over the next five years. "If the amount of timber needed for the reconstruction of Aceh was sourced locally, the result would be massive deforestation," Mubariq said in a statement."

EDIT

http://forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=41240