FAO Forestry country profiles - forest management
History
Forest management and silviculture
Indonesia began establishment of forest plantations in 1873. These were mainly teak plantations located in Java. Pinus merkusii was planted on Sumatra during the First World War. Reserves were originally established on the basis of two colonial government ordinances. By 1950, the estimated area of plantations was 500 000 hectares. Conflicting demands for land in Java then resulted in a period of reduced planting. In 1967, the Government adopted Basic Forestry Law Number 5, which set in place forest management prescriptions classified according to main forest functions. Around that time, the government also adopted a number of programmes that stimulated the growth of commercial timber harvest. These programmes helped to dramatically decrease the number of people living in poverty. Reforestation within concession areas (by concessionaires) was initiated in the 1970s. By 1980, the total area of plantations was 2.7 million hectares, mainly in Java, and by 1990 the plantation estate had increased to 3.7 million hectares.
In the late 1980s, the government launched a new program to establish industrial plantations to develop pulp and paper manufacturing facilities in order to reduce its dependence on oil exports, and to achieve the goal of becoming one of the leading pulp and paper producers in the world. The new plantations, called "Hutan Tanaman Industry" (HTI), emphasized the establishment of short rotation wood fibre species for pulp and paper production.
Scientific management of Indonesia¿s natural forests dates back to the 1930s, but until relatively recently, natural forests were logged only selectively and with relatively little destructive impact on the forests. Indonesia started large-scale harvesting of its forests only 40 years ago. Harvest levels accelerated dramatically in the mid-1970s and 1980s after large-scale logging concessions were introduced in 1967. Concessionaires were required to follow the Indonesian Selective Cutting System. In 1960, estimated annual log production was only 2 million m3, in 1975 it was 19 million m3, in 1985 it was 26 million m3, and in 1990, 38 million m3. In 1989 the Indonesian Selective Cutting and Planting System (TPTI) was introduced, placing greater importance on natural regeneration and enrichment planting.
A Reform Agenda of the Forestry and Estate Crops Sector was launched in 1998, as part of the recovery programme implemented in response to the 1997 monetary crisis. The reform agenda follows four phases: rescue, recovery, stability & progress and development.