Indonesia needs to introduce a new forest governance program in order to reduce deforestation, protect the border areas of forests, settle forest conflicts, and increase the local people`s participation in forest conservation efforts.
"For this purpose, the cooperation of all relevant parties is key to the successful reform of forest governance," said Wicaksono Sarosa, the executive director of Kemitraan, a Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia, on Thursday.
The forest governance reform is needed in response to various cases of forest encroachment and deforestation, as well as to conflicts involving holders of forest exploitation permits and the local people.
The latest conflict was between the local people and a permit holder, which took place in the districts of Batanghari and Sarolangun in Jambi province. A group of locals, who claimed to belong to the area's indigenous community, developed a palm oil plantation over 8,000 hectares of forest land, while the forestry ministry had issued a regulation on reforestation in the area.
The government has guaranteed legal protection for all investments made in the forestry sector in Indonesia. Therefore, the government will settle all conflicts with regard to forest encroachment.
"Legal sanctions against forest encroachment have been put in place. According to Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry, firm action will be taken against forest encroachers. Those who occupy forest areas without permits from the government could be sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, with a fine of Rp5 billion," said Amir Syamsuddin, the minister of law and human rights.
He made the statement in response to the rising number of forest encroachment cases and the increasing frequency of conflicts in forest areas where the government had issued a Business License for Utilization of Timber Forest Products (IUPHHK).
According to the forest ministry, the IUPHHI permit is issued by the government for the exploitation of forest resources, but the permit holders must stick to only those activities that are specified in the permit.
"The IUPHHK permit is only issued for a specified purpose and is always aimed at the restoration of the forest ecosystem," the Forestry Ministry`s director general for planning affairs, Bambang Soepijanto, said in a press statement on Thursday.
An IUPHHK license for permanent forest production, aimed at ecosystem restoration, can be issued,according to Bambang.
"However, such a permit cannot be issued for convertible production forests because these forest areas are designated for the development of transportation, transmigration, resettlement, agriculture, plantations and industries," Bambang pointed out.
Therefore, Bambang urged all Indonesians to abide by Article 26/2007 on spatial planning.
"The law states that people should also utilize areas or spaces, including forest areas, in line with the license they have received from the government or authorized government officials," he said.
Only by adhering to the regulations can deforestation, forest conflicts and forest encroachment be prevented.
However, according to Wicaksono Sarosa, Indonesia needs to reform its forest governance.
"We are cooperating and receiving support from the Norwegian government, through a partnership in the development of a forest governance program (FGP)," he said.
The objective of the program is to improve the forest government, reduce deforestation and increase the participation of local or indigenous people in sustainable exploitation of forest resources.
According to Wicaksono, several areas in the forestry sector need reforms.
"These areas include protection of the border areas of forests, resolution of forest conflicts, and involvement of the indigenous people in forest conservation," he stated.
Wicaksono noted that 1,918 cases of land-related conflicts had been reported so far in the country, "out of which 85 cases involve open forest conflicts".
"Meanwhile, the number of concessions on mining in the forest areas has been rising, reaching 6,000," he pointed out.
Concessions issued in Kalimantan, Sumatra and Papua involved 15 million hectares of forests. "Therefore, the partnership or cooperation with Norway also helps in handling forest crimes," Wicaksono said.
He cited a study by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), conducted in 2010, which showed that the borders of Indonesian forests had not yet been clearly defined.
"Of the 120 million hectares of Indonesian forest areas, only 14.2 million hectares have been designated for certain purposes and functions. This means that only 11.8 percent of the Indonesian forests are actually protected by the Constitutional Court (MK)," Wicaksono noted.
He said the participation of local people in forest conservation was not at a satisfactory level.
Up to June 2012, only 270,000 hectares of the Indonesian forest areas have been designated as village forest areas. This is still far from the forestry ministry's target of 2.5 million hectares, Wicaksono pointed out.
The forestry ministry had launched a reforestation program several years ago in an effort to expand the country`s forest cover. The program has been successful because the ministry has been able to plant one billion trees every year.
"We have set a target of planting one billion trees in 2013 as well," Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said after planting a `rambutan` tree in South Sumatra on Tuesday.
He noted that the ministry had exceeded its target in 2010 by planting 1.3 billion trees, excluding those planted by the public.
Last year, the government succeeded in planting 1.5 billion trees. And this year, up to October, 800 million trees have been planted.
Hasan said the ministry expected to exceed its one billion target this year as well. "The final figures will be out at the end of January, 2013," he added.
(A014/KR-BSR/A014)
Reporter: Andi Abdussalam
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
