"I am calling on all Indonesians to collectively implement a more efficient way to supervise and protect our national forest," she was quoted by the official Antara news agency as saying.

Speaking at the launch of a national forest rehabilitation program in Central Java, Megawati said efforts so far to stop deforestation were only in the form of "discourse."

The president, who in November called for a new drive to catch illegal loggers, also blamed "certain elements in our society" for taking part in the practice. She did not elaborate.

Officials blamed illegal logging for last November's deadly flash flood which killed an estimated 200 or more people in the town of Bahorok in North Sumatra.

Involvement of army and police officials in illegal logging is common across much of the huge archipelago.

A 2002 report by the World Resources Institute, Global Forest Watch, and Forest Watch Indonesia Reports said Indonesia was losing nearly two million hectares (4.9 million acres) of forest annually -- an area half the size of Switzerland.

TERRA.WIRE