Jakarta - The discourse as conveyed by the Chairman of the Indonesian Furniture and Handicraft Association (AMKRI) Sunoto after a meeting with President Joko Widodo on the elimination of the Timber Legality Verification System (SVLK) for the furniture and handicraft industry, needs to be stopped. If this continues, the efforts that Indonesia has made for years and has reaped these results will go backwards.

Proof of timber legality is basically one of the tickets for Indonesian furniture and handicraft products to be able to compete in the international market, especially the European Union, America and Australia. More importantly, SVLK is a way for Indonesia to guarantee the realization of sustainable forest management.

"Until now, illegal logging (illegal logging) is still one of the contributors to deforestation and forest destruction. The implementation of SVLK for the furniture and handicraft industry will close the opportunity for timber of unclear origin to enter the furniture and handicraft industry," explained Arnold Sitompul, Conservation Director of WWF-Indonesia. "SVLK remains a necessary instrument in organizing timber trade and movement to encourage good governance in the forestry sector," he continued.

According to data from the Ministry of Trade, to date, out of 3500 furniture and handicraft SMEs, only 637 companies have obtained SVLK. Many complaints were submitted by entrepreneurs regarding the process of obtaining SVLK, namely the difficult and expensive process of making Industrial Business License (IUI), Environmental Management Efforts (UKL), Environmental Monitoring Efforts (UPL). All three are licensing requirements in the environmental sector for businesses that have an important impact on the environment but the scale of the business is still small enough not to be subject to mandatory AMDAL. Another obstacle is due to the imbalance in the number of assessors in the field compared to the number of furniture and handicraft companies.

Instead of abolishing the SVLK, which is a step backwards, the Government of Indonesia is expected to focus more on revamping the implementation of the SVLK, which is felt by many SME entrepreneurs to be still complicated and prone to being ridden by certain elements to carry out illegal levies. This improvement is important because it will have an impact on efforts to maintain Indonesia as the third largest exporter of wood products to the European market.

For more information, please contact:

• Nenden N. Fathiastuti, Public Relations Manager, WWF-Indonesia (nfathiastuti@wwf.or.id, +628111909148)
• Noverica Widjojo, Media Relations Officer, WWF-Indonesia (nwidjojo@wwf.or.id, +6281219581985)