Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Aceh's Logging Moratorium Nominated for International Award

When the Flash Flood hit Pidie in the province of Aceh, on 28 February, the Governor of Aceh stated that the tragedy was caused by illegal logging i.e. cutting of forest trees, in said province.

This statement surprised me because the provincial government of Aceh has issued a Logging Moratorium i.e. stop the cutting of forest trees, since 2007.

But today I was happy when I read on The Jakarta Globe that the World Future Council  has nominated the Instruction of the Governor of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam No.5/INSTR/2007 re: Logging Moratorium as one of the nominees for the World's Best Forrest Policies.

Beside Aceh's Logging Moratorium, Forrest policies from Bhutan, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Finland, Gambia, Guatemala, Kenya, Nepal, Norway, India, Rwanda, Turkey, the United States of America and Vietnam had also been short-listed.

Three winning policies will be announced on 21 September at the United Nations headquarters in New York. 

Considering the above I felt that in spite of the obstructions in the implementation of the Logging Moratorium that caused illegal logging still exist, efforts to preserve forrest in Aceh are still considered successful.

I hope that this nomination will strengthen the will and spirit of the provincial government and law enforcement agencies in the province of Aceh to eliminate illegal logging and bring those responsible to the Court of Law.

22 comments:

attayaya-bom-earth said...

moratorium sangat bagus
cuma...
pemerintah sering terlambat.
sudah ada bencana baru memikirkan berhenti menebang.

colson said...

It's amazing..... good news:).

dee said...

Thanks Harry Nizam for sharing this! so many information i found here :D Happy Blogging!

Anonymous said...

Good effort by the Indonesian government !

But sad to say Harry, for every moratorium /forest reserve created, there will be 10 times more trees being felled elsewhere in the world.

Governments always try to
project a good image to placate
the public that they care about the environment, but beneath this we know that there is more than
meets the eye.

Firstly, there will still be illegal logging due to lack of enforcement , corrupted forest officials, trespassing, etc..

Secondly the majority of the masses place more importance on bread-butter issues,
so it is not a big concern to them
if forests are raped in the name of development and jobs .

Thirdly greedy developers will keep bribing fat politicians with money so that some piece of forest reserve land can be designated for
"progress".

Even if the current government
is keen on preserving the forests,
there is no guarantee that the
next government has the same
interests.

Sorry, not commenting
on your country alone, but many
developing nations face the same
dillemma...notably your neighbouring country.

Maybe creating a forest-tourism
industry is the only viable
solution at this moment.
Environmental education is frankly
a waste of time, cos people are
blinded when it comes to money

Ooops sorry for long post.
Your blog triggered some sentiments
on my part.

TUKANG CoLoNG said...

cukup bikin bangga.. :)

Unknown said...

@Attayaya-bom-earth,
Kita harus mengingatkan pemerintah tentang perlunya ketegasan dalam penerapan hukum untuk melindungi hutan.

@Colson,
Yes it is a good news indeed.

@Deasy,
You are welcome.

@Bear Wife,
I always enjoy reading your comments. Thank you.
You are right, we have laws that protect the forests, endangered species,we have the institutions to enforce the laws, but every now and then there will be violations.
Protected forest changed to commercial plantations.
The term 'illegal logging' is deceiving, because there is no way that lots of forest trees can be cut, carried to port and load unto ship without the police knowing.

@TUKANG CoLoNG,
Mudah2an membangkitkan gairah daerah lain untuk melindungi hutan.

Unknown said...

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sebagai anak putra daerah Dabo Singkep
Kepulauan Riau hanya itu yang bisa
aku persembahkan buat kampungku yang tercinta…

Unknown said...

Dabo Singkep,
Terima kasih atas kunjungan anda.
Saya akan berkunjung ke blog anda.

attayaya-jembatan-earth said...

save our tree

pemerintah mesti baca postingan ini

Unknown said...

Attayaya_Jembatan_Earth,
Tentunya pemerintah lebih tahu tentang bagaimana seharusnya memperlakukan hutan.

Meutia Halida Khairani said...

yeaay, because i'm an acehnese, i'm very happy to read about nomination.. but honestly, i was a little bit scare if i have to go for an adventure around aceh forest. there's still so many big bear and tiger >_<

r10 said...

berita bagus, tapi tetap harus dijaga pelaksanaan moratorium-nya

Unknown said...

@Meutia,
We should all be very happy with this nomination.
Re: Bear and Tigers in the forest
They are endangered species therefor should be protected i.e. by preserving their habitat in forest.
There should be parts of forest that can be used for tourism so that you can have your adventure there.

@R10,
Mudah2an aparat penegak hukum dapat mengamankan pelaksanaan moratorium tsb.

smp 3 lembang said...

seandainya semua pemerintah didunia melaksanakan Moratorium maka bumi akan lebih sehat dan bisa memperbaiki diri, nggak seperti sekarang panasnya luar biasa

Unknown said...

Smp3Lembang,
Semoga daerah2 bersedia mengeluarkan moratorium hutan.

Jolly Princess said...

Illegal logging is also one of our concerns here in the Philippines. I hope though that people will come to notice that nature must be taken care of before it is too late.

Unknown said...

HiJP,
I agree with you. People should
be aware of the importance of preserving forest.

Unknown said...

While you cant commit a future govt at least your present one is doing well in that area.

Unknown said...

Hi Peter/Kiwi,
Yes at least there is something that can be achieved.

Anonymous said...

Gubernur Aceh telah mengambil resiko tidak populer dalam mengambil kebijakan logging moratorium ini. Tidak saja dimusuhi oleh mafia kayu, Gub Aceh juga dimusuhi oleh Kementerian Kehutanan karena kebijakan ini. Seluas 500.000 Ha hutan yg oleh Kementerian Kehutanan telah diterbitkan izin tebang untuk 5 HPH berhasil diselamatkan dari kepunahan oleh gubernur ini.
Tetapi, tatkala Sang Gubernur terpaksa turun sendiri ke lapangan menangkap pelaku tebang haram, dia pun dicemooh dengan kejam.
Implementasi logging moratorium seharusnya tugas aparat penegak hukum, bukan tugas gubernur, tapi apa daya jika aparat gakkum menjalankan tugas alakadarnya. Konon lagi jika aparat ikut menebang atau berselingkuh dengan pembalak.
Namun demikian kita tak perlu berkecil hati, sebab menurut data resmi, daerah yg laju kerusakan hutannya paling minimal ternyata adalah Aceh. Bravo Aceh. Aceh sekali lagi telah memberi teladan bagi Indonesia dan dunia.

Propoor said...

Dear anonymous!
Gubernur Aceh itu pemberontak GAM setan. Dia layak dihukum tebang krn tlh berani mengangkangi pemerintah pusat dan membuat sengsara rakyat Aceh. Dia jelas tdk berhak atas penghargaan apapun TITIK

Unknown said...

@Anonymous,

Saya akan senang sekali kalau anda menyebutkan nama dan blog anda sehingga kita bisa jadi teman.

Logging Moratorium ini merupakan terobosan yang sangat diperlukan ditengah tidak pastinya pemerintah pusat melaksanakan moratorium hutan 2 tahun seperti yang telah diperjanjikan dengan pemerintah Norwegia yang akan memberi imbalan US$ 1 Milyar kepada Indonesia.

@Propoor,

Saya akan senang sekali kalau anda menyebut nama blog anda agar kita bisa berteman.

Setelah perjanjian Helsinski, mantan GAM mengakui Aceh sebagai bagian dari RI dan Gubernurnya dipilih secara sah, dilantik dan disumpah berdasarkan hukum dan peraturan RI.

Tentang Logging Moratorium :
Ini mendukung program pemerintah pusat untuk mengurangi emisi karbon 26% bpada tahun 2020 yang dijanjikan Presiden SBY pada KTT G20 di USA tahun 2009