A pledge to use timber from overseas to rebuild tsunami-hit areas rather than its own resources has been made by Indonesia.
The head of the country’s tsunami rebuilding programme, Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, said the aim was to avoid the use of illegally felled timber in the reconstruction which, he said, would tarnish Indonesia’s image overseas.
Unauthorised logging has increased dramatically since the tsunami struck, causing environmentalists to warn that the practice could cause another disaster. There are also concerns that timber barons will try to cash in by supplying illegally felled timber for reconstruction.
