Jakarta - On the eve of Prime Minister Tony Blair's visit to Indonesia, Greenpeace on Wednesday called on the leaders of Britain and Indonesia to adopt binding legal mechanisms to stop the ongoing destruction of Indonesia's last ancient forests.
"Prime Minister Blair and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should not forget that one of the most serious threats to Indonesia is the destruction of our forests from which up to 50 million Indonesians rely for food and livelihood," Hapsoro, forest campaigner of Greenpeace South-East Asia said in a statement.
The environmental watchdog said ancient forests of Indonesia, part of the so-called "Paradise Forests of Asia-Pacific," are being destroyed faster than any other forest on Earth, fuelled by demands from the European Union, US, Japan and China.
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In 2004, Britain was Indonesia's largest trading partner for timber products in Europe, importing some 121 million euros worth of timber products.
"The UK must lead the European Union in putting together legal mechanisms that prohibit the entry of timber and timber products which come from illegal and destructive logging operations in Indonesia," Hapsoro said.
Deforestation rates in Indonesia are among the highest in the world, with at least 1,9 million hectares of forest destroyed every year for the last five years, equivalent to six football fields a minute, according to Greenpeace.
Indonesia has already lost more than 72 percent of its intact ancient forest areas and 40 percent of its forest have been completely destroyed.
Much of the logging in Indonesia is illegal and, according to Indonesia Forest Minister Malam Sambat Kaban,"defrauds" the country of $4-billion each year.
A Greenpeace report released Tuesday indicates that international demand for timber in Europe, US, Japan and other developed countries along with domestic demands from China has resulted in an increase in the timber trade from the Paradise Forests.
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