Presidential Staff Office's Deputy II Abetnego Tarigan made the remarks in a statement received in Jakarta on Saturday.
"The government decrees will surely empower the people, and the distributed lands will have a double function of enhancing the people's livelihood and advancing environmental sustainability," Tarigan said.
President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi) instruction to expedite the determination of lands distributed for customary purposes demonstrates the executive's commitment to advancing agrarian reform and social forests policies, he added.
"We hope 148,642 families can enjoy the benefits offered by government decrees on social forests and TORA that have just recently been distributed by the President," he remarked.
The decrees are essential for the local community for resolving legal issues and agrarian conflict in forest areas, he said.
The Ministry of Environment and Forestry must also make efforts to enhance its response to proposals and applications for customary forests from customary communities in Indonesia, he added.
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"The Presidential Staff Office will push the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to be more responsive to proposals for customary forests from customary communities in Indonesia," the deputy said.
On Thursday (February 3, 2022), President Joko Widodo handed out copies of government decrees on social forests and TORA to local residents in Humbang Hasundutan district, North Sumatra.
At least 723 government decrees on social forests, covering a total of 496,667.12 hectares of land, were distributed to 118,368 families in 20 provinces.
The government also distributed 12 decrees on customary forests and 2 indicative customary forest decrees for a total area of 21,288 hectares to 6,170 families, as well as TORA decrees for 19 units of land with a total area of 30,274 hectares.
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Translator: Gilang Galiartha, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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