The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is recruiting and training a dozen judges and prosecutors to allow them to handle environmental cases, including illegal logging, says State Minister of the Environment Nabiel Makarim.

"We are still developing Formula 12 (12 judges and 12 prosecutors), to be deployed to try environmental cases in regions across the country. They are still undergoing training to give them the necessary skills in environmental issues," Antara quoted the state minister as saying during a seminar on strategies to combat illegal logging and community advocacy. The seminar was held in cooperation with the non-governmental organization Inspired, in Pekanbaru, Riau, over the weekend.

The state minister said that every three judges would have three prosecutors as their counterparts, and they would be obliged to cooperate with judges in district courts across the country in carrying out their work.

Nabiel said the judges would be required to publicly announce all verdicts they make, to ensure transparency in the judicial process.

"Judges must explain to the public all verdicts they make to support the transparency of the judiciary and the public's right to be informed in detail of the judges' verdicts," he said.

Nabiel pointed to the urgency of establishing an environmental court in response to the serious problem of illegal logging in Indonesia.

He said the forests would vanish completely within the next five to seven years unless illegal logging was halted.

"Almost two million hectares of forest areas are looted every year," he said, adding that the threat of extinction was being faced by natural forests, production-oriented and protected forests.

The people who engage in illegal logging do not care that the country has various types of forests, as their only objective is to further their own interests, the state minister said.

He admitted that it was difficult to combat illegal logging in the country, because of what he called the organized backing of national and regional "rat alliances", or criminal groups involved in the illegal business.

He was referring to well-established networks in Indonesian and many neighboring countries that back illegal logging.

According to the state minister, it is difficult to stop the illegal logging because the networks are strong and well-organized in many villages, making use of the poverty of the communities living near the forest areas. Weak law enforcement compounds the problems, so local residents have little fear of getting involved in illegal logging.

Because of these weaknesses, he said, these "rat alliances" were able to grow at the national as well as global levels.

The state minister said illegal loggers not only destroyed productive forests, but also preserved forests and national parks set aside for protected animal species and tourist activities.

"It is feared that in the next five or 10 years, Indonesia will have no forests left unless illegal logging is stopped," he said.

Asked how much time would be needed to rehabilitate the damaged forests, Nabiel said that it was impossible to predict.

"I think the (damaged) forests will never return to their original conditions. You can grow trees on certain plots of land, but the biodiversity will not be the same as it was," he said.

He added that weak and confusing laws contributed to the illegal logging.

"The ironic thing is that Indonesia has some 500 conflicting laws and decrees. The conflicting laws and sectoral egoism have contributed a great deal to the rampant illegal logging," he said.

Furthermore, he said that in the face of "rat alliances" on a global level, the government had asked other countries not to purchase timber and wood products that were not properly and clearly documented.

He added that some of his foreign counterparts had forged a cooperation with the British government to boycott timber and wood products such as furniture that came from illegal logging.

"At the recent East Summit in South Africa, I also signed an agreement with envoys from Norway, Finland and the European Union boycotting products made from illegal timber," Nabiel said.