The Observation of Log Export Banning Policy in Indonesia: Conditions, Problems, and Alternative Solutions

Abstract

In 1985, the government of Indonesia declared an export ban on logs in order to promote the wood processing industry within the country. Furthermore, this policy was followed by a regulation that the concessionaires have to build their own industry, causing a great increase in wood industry. In the early period after the log export ban, the government found it to be successful and there were no significant problems. Unfortunately, after one decade, Indonesia's forestry sector faced some serious problems,i.e. problems in raw material supply which was lower than the log demand level in the industry, deforestation issues, and ecological imbalance. The main objectives of this study are to identify the effects of the log export ban and to introduce some alternate measures.