Julmansyah, an official at the Forestry Ministry, said in Jakarta on Thursday that the presence of verifiers is important as the customary forest designation target expands to 1.4 million hectares over the next five years.
Previously, he stated that strengthening the capacity of local verifiers in determining customary forests had been carried out through training in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), from October 6-10, 2025.
Strengthening the capacity of verifiers is necessary, considering that the Home Affairs Minister Regulation No. 52 of 2014 mandates the establishment of a Customary Law Community (MHA) Committee, which will be tasked with identifying, verifying, and validating MHA proposals.
"Similar activities will be carried out in four batches covering four regions in Indonesia, so that in the future, there will be a sufficient supply of customary forest verifiers in Indonesia," Julmansyah said.
Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni previously formed a Task Force for Accelerating Customary Forest Determination this year, aiming to meet the target of completing 70,688 hectares of customary forest designation within the year.
The Forestry Ministry data shows that by early September 2025, 11,065 Social Forestry Decrees had been issued to 1.4 million families managing 8.4 million hectares, including 333,687 hectares of customary forests overseen by 83,000 families across 41 districts.
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Translator: Prisca Triferna Violleta, Cindy Frishanti Octavia
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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