Finland, Indonesia ink forestry co-op deal

Finland and Indonesia have signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in forestry and sustainable use of natural resources.

Minister of Agriculture and the Environment Kimmo Tiilikainen and Indonesian Minister Siti Nurbaya, who visited Finland from April 6 to April 8, signed the MoU, said a government press release on Friday.

The purpose of Nurbaya’s visit was to enhance cooperation between the countries, especially in education and research on the forest sector.

Indonesia has the world’s third largest, highly diverse tropical forest resources. However, the world’s largest island state is extremely vulnerable to degradation of the natural environment caused by the climate change.

During the visit, the Indonesian delegation learned about Finnish forestry and its special characteristics and forest-related education and research in the country.

The Indonesian team, in turn, tells about the actions taken to prevent the loss of forests and illegal felling. The agenda also included forest fires and their control and conservation and sustainable use of mires. Increasing the conservation of mires is one of the objectives of Indonesia.

Indonesia is an important partner of Finland in processes such as negotiations on climate and biodiversity agreements. Forestry is high on the priority in the UN Sustainable Development Goals to 2030.

In 2011 Indonesia and the EU signed a voluntary partnership agreement. Based on the development work concerning forest administration and legal use of forests that followed, Indonesia was the first country to complete the trade agreement process with the EU, allowing Indonesia to export timber and wood products to Europe under the FLEGT licensing scheme. The mandatory licence guarantees the legality of the production chain of tropical timber, thus enabling the access of Indonesian products to the EU market.