The Indonesian Pulp and Paper Association (APKI) is upbeat that the industry will be able to phase out the use of timber from natural forests and convert entirely to the use of timber from forestry plantations by 2009, as required under a 2004 decree of the forestry minister. Bambang Setiono, an analyst from the Center for International Forestry Research (Cifor), said 60 percent of raw materials for the pulp and paper industry came from natural forests adjacent to forestry plantations in 2005 and the first part of this year.

Different versions of this story also appeared in Kompas, Bisnis Indonesia, Koran Tempo, Republika, LKBN Antara, Investor Daily and Media Indonesia

Deforestation and the activities that lead to it are not the only culprits. Sijeruk village sits below a densely forested hill. The Center for International Forestry Research conservation group has said that instead of logging, exceptionally long and heavy downfalls, which saturated the forest soil until it was unable to absorb any more water, were responsible for the landslides. But both experts and environmentalists agree the loss of forest cover does humans harm. Of the 162 million hectares of forest in Indonesia today, the second largest tropical forest in the world after Brazil, 59 million hectares are damaged, endangering not only biodiversity but also the global ecosystem. Climate change and global warming are some of the indicators of the world’s disrupted ecosystem.

Pusat Penelitian Kehutanan Internasional (Cifor) menolak kritik pemerintah Indonesia terkait dengan kinerja mereka di bidang penelitian kehutanan yang lebih terfokus ke masalah sosial dan isu sensitif di negeri ini. Cifor malah yakin, penelitian mereka dapat membantu negara berkembang memperoleh manfaat ekonomi yang lebih besar dan lebih lama dari sumber daya hutan.

Common properties in the world at present were facing critical degradation. In Indonesia, for instance, around 60 million hectares of its forests had degraded triggering floods and landslides. Dr. Herry Purnomo, a forestry expert from the Bogor-based Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) said, the main challenge of common properties management was how to eradicate unemployment and poverty.

Different versions of this story also appeared in Jakarta Post on 21 June 2006

Dirjen Cifor (Center for International Forestry Research) yang baru terpilih, Frances J. Seymour, punya setumpuk tugas berat. Selain harus menjalankan tugas-tugas ‘standar’, Seymour juga harus memperbaiki hubungan Cifor yang buruk dengan Departemen Kehutanan.

Granting local communities the rights to manage forests would reduce poverty, boost economic growth and curb extensive deforestation, environmentalists say. Speaking at the International Policy Seminar on Land Tenure Reforms in Bali on Monday, visiting environmentalists said the government should institute regulations that recognize community-based property rights. A researcher with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Petrus Gunarso said the change would represent a paradigm shift for the government, which had traditionally favored large-scale, capital-intensive industries that had monopolized the forest economy, resulting in serious ecological and economic problems.

Sebagai negara kepulauan, Indonesia adalah negara yang sangat rentan terhadap dampak perubahan iklim. Dampak negatifnya dapat berakibat pada kerusakan lingkungan hidup, ekosistem, kebakaran hutan, serta banjir dan tanah longsor. Indonesia pernah mengalami suatu periode kebakaran hutan yang parah di Kalimantan, pada tahun 1997/1998. Data dari Pusat Penelitian Kehutanan Internasional atau CIFOR menyebutkan, dari segi perekonomian Indonesia saat itu kehilangan tidak kurang dari 9 Miliar Dolar Amerika Serikat. Belum lagi akibat-akibat sosial yang timbul saat dan sesudah kebakaran hutan, seperti masalah kesehatan, transportasi, pertanian, dan punahnya keanekaragaman hayati, dalam jumlah besar.

Le gnetum africanum et le gnetum bucholzianum ont une grande importance pour de nombreuses communautés forestières et on leur donne différents noms vernaculaires et commerciaux. Par exemple, dans la République Centrafricaine, au Gabon, au Congo, dans la République Démocratique du Congo et en Angola, les deux espèces sont localement appelées koko. Dans la partie anglophone du Cameroun, le nom local est eru alors que dans la partie francophone l’appellation est okok. Enfin, au Nigeria, la tribu des Igbo leur donne le nom de ukasi, et celle des Efiki/Ibibio leur donne celui d’afang.