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Govt ups ante against illegal logging, mining and plantations
President Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono has pledged to intensify the government’s battle against companies operating illegally in rainforests to cut forest losses and help regain the trust of foreign countries.
The government is currently revising a 2005 presidential instruction on illegal logging.
The draft expanded the definition of violations including illegal mining and illicit forest encroachment.
The government in 2011 plans to stop issuing new permits on activities in natural forests and peat lands to help slow rates of deforestation and degradation, which currently stand at more than 1 million hectares per year.
The US$1-billion Indonesia-Norway deal stipulates Indonesia’s obligation to enforce existing laws against illegal logging, timber trading and other forest-related crimes and set up a special unit to tackle the problem.