Illegal logging will undermine any government efforts to reduce emissions from forest degradation and deforestation, an initiative known as REDD, a senior scientist says. Daniel Murdiyarso, a climate change scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), said on Thursday that the success or failure of REDD was tied to illegal logging. ‘In REDD, both legal and illegal logging must be considered in calculating the effectiveness of emissions reductions,’ he said. ‘So, discussions on both issues are very strategic.’ An open forum, titled ‘REDD and Combating Illegal Logging,’ will be the main discussion platform at the 8th Meeting of the Asia Forest Partnerships, to be held in Bali on May 28 and 29.

Any carbon trading scheme developed to incorporate forests should be simple to encourage countries to protect these threatened areas and help cut emissions, an international forest conference said Thursday. Forestry Minister M.S. Kaban said any scheme aimed at reducing emissions created by deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) should avoid the failures of the Kyoto Protocol. The two-day conference was organized by the Asia Forestry Partnership (AFP) and Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) to explore the REDD opportunities for reducing illegal logging.

Indonesian Minister of Forestry MS Kaban claims that illegal logging cases have continued to decline across the archipelago in the last four years because of the decrease in large-scale illegal logging thanks to intensive law enforcement. “Our data shows a decline of illegal logging cases, especially those of larger scale,” Kaban told a forest conference in Bali on Thursday.

“I hope that REDD would in the end come differently as a successful mechanism, and help show that forest offers solution to the climate change, rather than being source of problem,” he told international forest meeting on illegal logging and REDD in Bali on Thursday.

“This conference is very important because we will be discussing the intersection of two issues: The need to fight forest crimes and the need to find workable mechanisms for REDD,” Frances Seymour, Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. The conference was organized jointly by the Asia Forest Partnership (AFP) and CIFOR.

Direktur Pusat Riset Internasional Kehutanan (CIFOR), Frances Seymour, menyatakan, penyebab perusakan hutan di seluruh dunia kebanyakan justru berasal dari pihak di luar kehutanan. Dalam surat elektronikanya kepada ANTARA, di Nusa Dua, Bali, Selasa, Seymour menyatakan, hal itu disampaikan setelah dia berbicara soal perusakan hutan di seluruh dunia di depan Sidang Komite Kehutanan FAO beberapa waktu lalu.

Pertemuan Kemitraan Kehutanan Asia (AFP) yang akan dihadiri lebih dari 270 peserta dari 50 negara di Nusa Dua, Bali akan membahas penebangan hutan secara ilegal dan upaya lebih nyata dari pemberantasan penebangan itu untuk mengurangi emisi gas rumah kaca (GRK). Menurut Koordinator Komunikasi Regional CIFOR, Yani Saloh, di Nusa Dua, Bali, Selasa petang, pertemuan Kemitraan Kehutanan Asia itu akan dilaksanakan pada 27 hingga 29 Mei mendatang dengan menghadirkan banyak pembicara kunci, di antaranya Menteri Kehutanan Indonesia, MS Kaban, dan ahli senior CIFOR, Daniel Murdiyanto.

De muy provechoso fue calificado el intercambio de ideas, de experiencias, de fracasos y de aciertos que durante cuatro días ocupó la agenda de los talleres realizados en Interlaken. El encuentro, bajo el patrocinio de Suiza, fue dedicado a discutir el desarrollo de los diversos procesos de descentralización forestal que viven más de 50 países tropicales desde hace unas dos décadas.