FAILURE OF FORESTRY POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INDONESIA
ABSTRACT: Indonesia's natural
forest has been persistently declining, even with the fastest rate in the
world, regardless of various efforts to stop the decline or at least to reduce
the rate significantly. At the same time, development of plantation forest has
been very slow. Amongst the various causes of the natural forest loss that have
been identified, financial nonprofitability was not one of them. That being
said, the fundamental reason as to why utilization of natural forest for timber
production will not survive in the long run is because of financial nonprofitability. In order for a business to stay in the
industry of the natural forest utilization, the government should provide
financial incentives using public's money. Hence, the public support for the
forestry is vital for the survival of the industry?. However, improper
implementation of forestry laws can have damaging impacts to the public's
perception and support. Moreover, the
five policies, namely forest land establishment, fees, and royalties, log
export ban, certification, and forest management unit establishment, which have
failed to deliver sustainable natural production forests, are shortly
discussed. Finally, the more appropriate approach of natural forest utilization
is basically not as a sustainable forest management but rather as the optimal
timber mining, which consequently requires different set of policies.
KEYWORDS: discount rate;
profitability; stock growth rate: stumpage price
Author: Sudarsono Soedomo
Journal Code: jpkehutanangg170012
