size of the trees and species that can be harvested, and even the maximum volume of
trees that can be harvested per unit area. However, these regulations mainly cover
lowland, hilly, and mountain forests, and peat forests have not been taken largely
into account.
When they started the logging activities, they laid out rails with branch lines in the
peat swamp forest and used locomotives to carry wood logs out of forests. The
problem was that they tended to cut all the trees, including smaller trees. In
particular, the small diameter of whitewoods such as Ramin trees (Gonystylus
bancanus), was willingly harvested without consideration of sustainable forest
management (Furukawa 1994). Conversely, forestry regulations have also eased
restriction on the harvestable tree size. For example, the minimum diameter that can
be harvested in the HPH was initially 60 cm, but this was lowered to 50 cm for low
and hilly lands and 40 cm for peatlands in 2009.
The Indonesian government started the transmigration program to move landless
people from densely populated areas, especially Java, to less populous areas of the
country: Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua (Fearnside 1997). One of the
purposes of the program was to increase food production to meet increasing food
demand due to the rapidly rising population. For example, the government
implemented a plan to develop rice fields in peatlands in the 1980s (Sulaiman
et al. 2019). Unfortunately, most of the cases eventually ended in failure.
As mentioned above, Indonesia has started to promote large-scale commercial
logging of the rich hardwood forests on the outside Java in 1970s (Barr 2001), which
led to a rapid expansion of the sawn wood and plywood industry, exporting mainly
raw logs. According to the FAO report (FAO 1998), the Indonesian government
estimated the remaining natural forest at 92.4 Mha and decided to increase the forest
area to 143.9 Mha by conserving the area of the remaining natural forest and
increasing the forest area. One of the efforts, which should be effective use of the
deforested area, was promoting industrial forest plantation (Hutan Tanaman Industri,
HTI) in the 1990s. The purpose of the HTI was mainly to plant fast-growing species
for pulp and paper woods. In practice, once a term of the HPH is over, areal
concessions of the HPH are abundant. Therefore, former concessions of the HPH
have been given to private companies to develop industrial forest plantations.
The decision to promote the conversion from HPH to HTI was strongly driven by
the global strategy of the pulp and paper industries accelerated explosively by
growth, resulting in the promotion of Indonesia to one of the world’s leading pulp
and paper producers and exporters in the 1990s (FAO 2002). Pulp production
capacity had been expanded by logs coming out of the conversion of natural forests
to forest plantations and the construction of new mills. In developing their HTIs,
Indonesian plantation companies have planted several fast-growing pulpwood species. The most favored tree species were Acacia mangium and Acacia crassicarpa
(Leksono et al. 1996). A critical challenge faced by most HTI companies was that
they had to develop in areas with fragile soil structures (e.g., peat or impoverished
mineral soils). The soil condition was further worsened by short-cutting system such
as a 4–8-year harvesting rotation. Moreover, a large-scale commercial plantation
generally uses a large number of heavy equipment, resulting in severe soil
94
T. Kato et al.
trees that can be harvested per unit area. However, these regulations mainly cover
lowland, hilly, and mountain forests, and peat forests have not been taken largely
into account.
When they started the logging activities, they laid out rails with branch lines in the
peat swamp forest and used locomotives to carry wood logs out of forests. The
problem was that they tended to cut all the trees, including smaller trees. In
particular, the small diameter of whitewoods such as Ramin trees (Gonystylus
bancanus), was willingly harvested without consideration of sustainable forest
management (Furukawa 1994). Conversely, forestry regulations have also eased
restriction on the harvestable tree size. For example, the minimum diameter that can
be harvested in the HPH was initially 60 cm, but this was lowered to 50 cm for low
and hilly lands and 40 cm for peatlands in 2009.
The Indonesian government started the transmigration program to move landless
people from densely populated areas, especially Java, to less populous areas of the
country: Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua (Fearnside 1997). One of the
purposes of the program was to increase food production to meet increasing food
demand due to the rapidly rising population. For example, the government
implemented a plan to develop rice fields in peatlands in the 1980s (Sulaiman
et al. 2019). Unfortunately, most of the cases eventually ended in failure.
As mentioned above, Indonesia has started to promote large-scale commercial
logging of the rich hardwood forests on the outside Java in 1970s (Barr 2001), which
led to a rapid expansion of the sawn wood and plywood industry, exporting mainly
raw logs. According to the FAO report (FAO 1998), the Indonesian government
estimated the remaining natural forest at 92.4 Mha and decided to increase the forest
area to 143.9 Mha by conserving the area of the remaining natural forest and
increasing the forest area. One of the efforts, which should be effective use of the
deforested area, was promoting industrial forest plantation (Hutan Tanaman Industri,
HTI) in the 1990s. The purpose of the HTI was mainly to plant fast-growing species
for pulp and paper woods. In practice, once a term of the HPH is over, areal
concessions of the HPH are abundant. Therefore, former concessions of the HPH
have been given to private companies to develop industrial forest plantations.
The decision to promote the conversion from HPH to HTI was strongly driven by
the global strategy of the pulp and paper industries accelerated explosively by
growth, resulting in the promotion of Indonesia to one of the world’s leading pulp
and paper producers and exporters in the 1990s (FAO 2002). Pulp production
capacity had been expanded by logs coming out of the conversion of natural forests
to forest plantations and the construction of new mills. In developing their HTIs,
Indonesian plantation companies have planted several fast-growing pulpwood species. The most favored tree species were Acacia mangium and Acacia crassicarpa
(Leksono et al. 1996). A critical challenge faced by most HTI companies was that
they had to develop in areas with fragile soil structures (e.g., peat or impoverished
mineral soils). The soil condition was further worsened by short-cutting system such
as a 4–8-year harvesting rotation. Moreover, a large-scale commercial plantation
generally uses a large number of heavy equipment, resulting in severe soil
94
T. Kato et al.