30/11/2011 (Jakarta Globe) - At an event on Merah Putih hill in Cieteureup, Bogor, marking Indonesian Tree Planting Day and the National Month of Planting, the president and the first lady, Ani Yudhoyono, planted a manglid, from the magnolia species.

This symbolic one billionth tree was part of the government’s One Billion Indonesian Trees for the World program, which aims to see a billion trees planted each year.

During a video conference with the governor of West Kalimantan, Awang Faroek, Yudhoyono said he was happy that the world supported Indonesia’s efforts in maintaining Kalimantan’s forest.

“Thank you,” the president said. “But there are also elements in the world, the syndicates, that are engaged in shady businesses to carry out illegal logging.”

He asked foreign countries to bear the same burden. “Do not benefit from illegal logging [products] from Indonesia,” he said.

A recent study released by British risk analysis and mapping firm Maplecroft showed Indonesia had one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world. In the ranking of 180 countries, Indonesia was near the top along with Nigeria and North Korea.

With millions of hectares of forest being cleared each year to make way for palm oil plantations, the National Police said even illegal loggers were starting to see the impact of dwindling rainforests in Indonesia.

The National Police this year only seized low-quality logs during a series of raids in Kalimantan during the past month.

“The quantity and quality of illegal logging has dropped significantly, but that’s because there isn’t as much forest area,” West Kalimantan Police Chief Brig. Gen. Unggung Cahyono said on Saturday.

The government in May began a two-year moratorium on issuing new licenses to clear primary forests and peatlands, but activists have said it came too late for Kalimantan’s forests.

Still, Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said Indonesia was making progress. Of the 50 million cubic meters of wood produced each year, 80 percent of them are from government-planted forests. Only 20 percent of the production used wood from natural forests.

Zulkifli also said that Indonesia had begun a good trend with the reforestation, even exceeding targets.

In 2008, of the 100 million-tree target, the government planted 114 million trees. While in 2009, the country surpassed the 230 million target and planted 251 million new trees.

And in 2010, when the billion-tree program began, at least 1.7 billion new trees were planted in Indonesia, equivalent to 10.675 million tons of CO2.

“In 2011, we have planted 827 million trees, around 80 percent [of the one billion tree target]. We are optimistic that the target of one billion trees will be reached by January next year,” the minister said.

To support the program, the ministry has established people’s seed gardens. This year, for example, the government set up 10,000 seed gardens across the country. The ministry estimated the gardens would produce at least 500 million trees.

“I know everybody has been working hard, but let’s improve it so we can be more successful, including [preventing] illegal logging,” Yudhoyono said.