Indonesian Meranti

DrBones · Post by **DrBones** » Thu May 20, 2004 11:50 am

For those of you that read German, here's the article:
http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,300704,00.html

It's an interesting article about the tropical woods bussiness in Indonesia. Specifically it addresses the illegally cut Meranti wood which is cheaper than the Meranti that comes with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) seal. FSC certified wood has to document clearly where it has originated from.

Apparently up to 90% of the wood coming from Indonesia though is illegally cut and then sold through something called "governmental controlled wood economy" - Essentially this is done by selling wood that has been impounded by the government and then 'sold' back to the guy that cut it in the first place. The judge over the case gets a kickback in the process.

Translated quote:

For 2003 the Indonesian government had authorized the cutting of 6.9 million cubic meters of forest. According to estimates though 90 million cubic meters of forest were cut. The losses through the illegal cutting of the up to 70 meter high trees are gigantic: Every year the activities of the wood industrie cost the government more money than what 8 million Indonesian families earn on average. At some point the department of forestry took notice and tried to stem this trend through prohibiting the exportation and with punitive tolls. The wood cutters then just smuggled the wood to Malaysia and sold it from there.

This type of illegal wood cutting nearly cost a local Indonesian journalist (Abi Kusno Nachran) his life last year when his report led to the impounding of 54,000 cubic meters of illegally cut wood. - He was left for dead after being assaulted with a machete.

Yearly Indonesia at the current rate is loosing an area of forest the size of Switzerland.

This somewhat sums up the article. I thought it might be of interest. Again, by no means am I a tree hugger - But I do believe in fair trade and the protection of resources.

Post by **jacquesmm** » Thu May 20, 2004 1:08 pm

Plans for more foam hulls are coming . . . .

That way we will not have to cut the trees, only to find more crude oil somewhere to produce the resin.

baydog · Post by **baydog** » Fri May 21, 2004 1:32 am

Jacques you must be getting filthy rich if most of that wood is being used on boats of your design

I wonder what the end market is for those trees. If it is for paper for boxes then I really hope the Indonesians stop cutting those trees then they would have to buy more paper from the company I work for. Most paper manufacturers in the U.S. practice sustainable initiatives (replanting, selective cutting, etc.). Most packaging is going to plastics though.

Post by **jacquesmm** » Fri May 21, 2004 9:05 am

You are correct: in the US, almost all the wood and plywood comes from renewable sources, it's a crop.
Almost all that Indonesian wood is used for plywood.

despotic931 · Post by **despotic931** » Fri May 21, 2004 9:43 am

Jacques, you wouldnt be in on it would ya?

It all makes sense, They have the supply and Jacques creats the demand! Its a consperacy, how big a cut you get J? and you thought we wouldnt find out!

naw, but the way Jaques is pushing the foam all the foam trees are gonna be cut down, and then we will be back to building wood boats.

DrBones · Post by **DrBones** » Fri May 21, 2004 10:49 am

Sorry about the confusion. The point was that maybe some consumers don't want their money going to criminal enterprises that help entrench government corruption and curtail individual freedoms and free trade.

I probably will buy Meranti for some parts of the next boat I'll build if I decide not to glass it entrirely (I hate the sanding

). I'll just try to buy from a source that sells Meranti certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

The article also cites that non-FSC certified wood is %5 to 15% cheaper and that most stores offering products made from Meranti are now rejecting non-FSC certified woods out of the above mentioned reasons.

despotic931 · Post by **despotic931** » Fri May 21, 2004 10:58 am

It is kind of sad to think that the wood that we cherish is cut and harvested illegaly.

JimW · Post by **JimW** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 2:10 pm

Bones,

I am sure that even without our help the indonesian government would find some way to entrech itself in coruption. I've been there (on government business) and the government there is all about the $$$$. The russians left some pretty cool statues there when they "left". Very "common worker" oriented monuments. People who think our government is less than optimum need to live in Asia for a couple years. Oh, .... yeah plywood. Uh?

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