Human Rights and the Environment

International Development: Indonesia Makes Illegal Logging a Capital Offense - 2004

Keywords: Biodiversity, Resource Extraction   Indonesia

Indonesia’s President Megawati Sukarnoputri introduced a new law making the crime of illegal logging a capital offense.[1]  This is the first law in independent Indonesia ever to prescribe the death penalty as punishment for a crime of commerce.  While the law is pending in the House of Representatives, a temporary law signed by the president is now in effect.[2]

Illegal logging has been linked to human rights abuses, loss of biodiversity, deforestation, climate change, and civil wars.  According to the Ministry of Forestry, rampant illegal logging cost the state approximately Rp355.8 billion (U.S. $33 million) in 2002 and 2003.  Indonesia loses an estimated 2.6 million hectares of natural forest annually, most of which is cut down illegally.  Further, over the past few years, more than 300 companies in the timber-processing industry have closed due to decreases in supply, largely due to illegal logging.[3] 

The Indonesian government has prosecuted some illegal loggers, but is overwhelmed by the number of cases.  Police investigated 246 cases involving 169 suspects in the first quarter of 2004 up from 125 cases in the same period in 2003, according to national police director of special crimes Brigadier-General Suharto.[4] Minister of Forestry M. Prakosa blames lack of law enforcement by the police, the port authority, and the navy for the scale of the illegal logging.  The ministry has gradually lowered logging quotas from 6.5 million cubic meters in 2003 to 5.74 million cubic meters in 2004 and 5.45 million cubic meters in 2005.  In addition, domestic timber and pulp-and-paper companies are being required to address issues related to biodiversity and the livelihoods of indigenous communities.[5] 

Last Updated: 04/22/05