28 Juni 2010
Signing agreements with eight concessionholders
In Indonesia, the world’s largest forest certification programme is unfolding itself. This means more good news for the Indonesian forestry sector, after the announcement of the two-year moratorium on the conversion of natural forests and other important factors.
Since the beginning of this year 2010, a new programme has come on stream in Indonesia, The Borneo Initiative, which aims at the promotion of responsible management of tropical rain forests. Forest concessions are supported towards achievement of both the national certificate for responsible logging (LEI) as well as the internationally renowned FSC certificate.
“We are just starting”
Executive Boardmember of The Borneo Initiative, Jesse Kuijper, explains: “We landed with the wheels spinning this January, when we signed support agreements with five concessions on Kalimantan, covering some 600,000 ha of natural forest. On the 28th of June we sign another round of agreements with another eight companies, covering another 800,000 ha of natural forest. This puts Indonesia into the vanguard of good forest management worldwide, nowhere else is forest certification being realized at such a scale, with such speed. We are truly elated – and we are just starting!”.
Potential for expanding
Up to date, Indonesia has around 5 (five)companies with 1 million ha of FSC certified natural forest, of which 4 companies with 600,000 ha on Kalimantan. The first certificate was issued to PT Intracawood in year 2001. This pace is much behind other regions like Brazil or Congo where FSC certification proceeded much faster. But with The Borneo Initiative, things will change for Indonesia. Jesse Kuijper: “we see a high potential for expanding certified forest management in Indonesia. Initially, we aim for another 4 million ha of FSC certified natural forest by year 2015, but we think we can do even more.”
Donors
The Borneo Initiative is a non-profit foundation based in the Netherlands, with funding from the private sector (including propety developers BAM and Bouwfonds plus a suite of housing associations, all important end-users of Indonesian timber) matched with funding from Dutch Goverment, The Postcode Lottery and a big private charity. The Borneo Initiative is a market-based initiative, aiming to make the trade flow of timber from Indonesia to the Netherlands more sustainable.
Note to the editors: for more information about The Borneo Initiative visit the website: www.theborneoinitiative.org
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