Law No. 18 of 2013 concerning the Prevention and Eradication of Destruction of Forests defines illegal logging as all organized illegal use of timber forest products. Data from the Directorate General of Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry stated that the illegal logging cases from 2015 to 2021 were 681, with a total volume of 631,443 cubic meters of wood.

Kaoem Telapak assesses that law enforcement against illegal loggers in Indonesia is still weak. The claim is based on the results of research conducted by Kaoem Telapak and the Environmental Investigation Agency, which launched in 2021. The investigation indicated that weak law enforcement had been the cause of forest loss in Indonesia in the last decade. At least 200,000 hectares of forest cover are lost each year in Indonesia.

Abu Meridian, Kaoem Telapak’s Campaign Leader, highlighted that the enforcement of the logging law only executes operators and companies that send timber originating from it. However, the companies that receive timbers from illegal logging are often free from punishment.

“The (legal) process does not touch the one who receives the wood,” Abu said to voaindonesia.com.

Kaoem Telapak’s study proved that 50 companies were involved in selling illegal timber, either directly or indirectly. However, No more than 10 companies were processed to the court level.

The next issue, the trend observed by Kaoem Telapak is that the location of illegal logging is starting to shift towards the east of Indonesia. Illegal logging in Papua and West Papua is starting to happen. Since 2013, processed wood and logs have been smuggled to the island of Java, and then sold abroad.

We still find that there is still the movement of this Merbau wood from Papua and West Papua, to the Surabaya area and then exported to other areas,” said Abu.

Kaoem Telapak is committed to actively monitoring, researching, and also coordinating with various stakeholders to contribute to the fight against illegal logging activities.