JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently signed a two-year moratorium on new logging concessions and as a result will receive $1bn from Norway as part of a UN-backed bilateral agreement in helping to reduce emissions.But in secretly filmed footage, Al Jazeera reveals that the reality on the ground paints a different picture where government officials continue to grant hundreds of licenses to mining and logging companies.
However, in Indonesia illegal logging is a massive problem that has resulted in undermining the rule of law and substantial revenues to the state. It encourages forest crimes, and has serious economic and social implications to the poor and disadvantaged. The threat to ecosystems and biodiversity is enormous with very little long-term advantages for anyone other than those who are responsible for the plunder and smuggling of timber from one country to the next.
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