GENEVA - The massive demand for timber to rebuild tsunami-devastated parts of Indonesia could ravage local forests, conservation groups said on Thursday, calling for donor countries to send some of their aid in the form of logs.
As Indonesia seeks to house at least half a million people whose homes were destroyed by the Dec. 26 tsunami, the demand for wood will be enormous and may put a huge strain on forests where illegal logging is already a major environmental problem, they said.
Aceh, the western Indonesian province hardest hit by the giant waves, will need 4-8 million cubic metres of timber over the next five years, according to a study by local environmental think-tank Greenomics Indonesia and by Geneva-based WWF.
That is the equivalent of up to 227,000 hectares (560,000 acres) of forest, an area four times the size of Singapore, WWF (formerly the World Wildlife Fund) said in a statement.
"Sourcing timber as aid from other countries is much more rational than accelerating land clearing of natural forests in the name of the reconstruction of Aceh," said Elfian Efensi, head of Greenomics Indonesia.
"Some of the aid already pledged by donors for the reconstruction of Aceh should be made in the form of timber."
The green groups are worried the additional pressure on Indonesian forests -- from which an estimated 70 percent of logging is illegal -- could lead to severe flooding and landslide risks