"I want the land with the SK to be useful for productive activities. Do not transfer it to someone else," Jokowi emphasized during the handover of the SK on Social Forests and TORA in Humbang Hasundutan District, North Sumatra, Thursday.
He emphasized that the government issued the decree for the community for boosting their productivity.
"Once we know that the land given under the SK has been transferred, we will revoke it," he added.
The head of state will also revoke the decree if the land given by the government is abandoned. The head of state pointed out that decrees covering three million hectares were revoked by the government on grounds of neglect.
"We had revoked the decree of three million hectares since the land had been abandoned for more than 10 years," he noted.
Related news: Social forests managed by cooperatives should be expanded: President Jokowi
He also urged the community to continue to preserve the existing forests. In addition, Jokowi called on the community to be careful if they were looking to collaborate with private sectors or banks.
"You have to be careful, and you have to calculate everything. It will be difficult for you if you want to return the money," he stated.
Apart from being handed over directly by the president in North Sumatra Province, the handover of the Social Forest Decree and TORA was also conducted simultaneously in 19 provinces in Indonesia.
Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya stated that the SK for Social Forests was handed over to 20 provinces while the SK TORA was handed over to five provinces.
"There were 722 SK for Social Forests covering 469,670 hectares for 118 thousand families. There were also 12 SK for the customary forest, and two SK for indicative customary forests, with a total area of 21,288 hectares for 6,170 families," Nurbaya explained.
Related news: Nippon Shokubai launches social contribution program to develop 'Japan-Indonesia Friendship Forests of Banten Bay for Biodiversity Preservation'
Translator: Indra A P, Resinta Sulistiyand
Editor: Suharto
Copyright © ANTARA 2022
