Promoting Legal Timber Trade

Posted by AsiaViews | Dec 10, 2017 | 0 |

The Jakarta Post

7 Dec 2017

Last week, Indonesia celebrated the first anniversary of the licensing scheme that permits the export of certified timber products to the European Union without passing through due diligence checks. Since the scheme began on Nov. 15, 2016, Indonesia has issued 39,078 FLEGT licenses for the export of certified timber products to 28 EU member states, worth over €1 billion (US$1.18 million). This represented an increase of 17 percent from the same period last year.

The FLEGT license, named after the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Action Plan, was implemented following a Voluntary Partnership Agreement between Indonesia and the EU to tackle illegal logging, whilst also aiming at improving forest governance and promoting the trade of legal timber products.

Indonesia has also increased transparency, reformed laws and boosted legal enforcement as well as combated illegal logging in order to help establish livelihoods for millions of people involved in the forestry sector.

Indonesia became the first country in the world to issue FLEGT licenses for timber products after it adjusted its timber legality assurance system in accordance with the strict requirements imposed by the EU. After the FLEGT-licensed products met EU requirements, EU-based importers are no longer required to conduct further due diligence before putting the products on the market.

The FLEGT licenses do not only benefit the Indonesian economy, but also strengthen the fight against illegal logging, which, along with forest fires, is responsible for deforestation. Indonesia is currently home to the world’s third largest rainforest.

The 17 percent increase in export value of timber products was high considering that many timber shipments were delayed because of unfamiliar bureaucratic procedures, given the transition to the FLEGT license system.

With harmonization of export procedures, Indonesia will have a competitive advantage over other exporters of timber products to the EU, which imported timber products worth €17.48 billion in 2016.

If Indonesia consistently applies the strict timber certification system, it has an opportunity to increase exports of its timber products not only to the EU, but also to large Asian markets such as India, China, Japan and South Korea, where strict timber regulations are also in place.

With the successful implementation of the FLEGT system, Indonesia should ensure all segments of the timber industry’s value chain benefit, including furniture makers. To achieve this goal, small and medium furniture companies, which often complain about the high cost of certifying raw materials, need government assistance, particularly in the form of more affordable auditing services.

More importantly, the achievements should encourage a review of the whole process related to the issuance of FLEGT licenses, to complement government efforts to curb the illegal logging and timber trade, while promoting the country’s exports of timber products to the world.

(http://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2017/12/07/editorial-promoting-legal-timber-trade.html)

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EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD

Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.

“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”

Promoting Legal Timber Trade