Activists are applauding the extension of a government moratorium on issuing forest exploitation permits, while saying that the Forestry Ministry must ensure the policy is implemented regionally.
Zenzi Suhadi, a representative of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), said that three things were needed to implement the moratorium: a resolution for prolonged natural resources conflicts, enforcement of laws banning deforestation and a crackdown on improperly issued mining and plantation permits.
“We, for example, must be aware of contentious revisions of spatial planning bylaws that could be potentially used to reap personal benefit at the expense of environmental protection,” Zenzi told The Jakarta Post.
On Monday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed Presidential Instruction No. 6/2013 to continue the moratorium for two years.
The moratorium, which prohibits issuance of new exploitation permits for primary forests and peatlands in conservation forests, protected forests and production forests, was expanded to include additional forest areas on the government’s new indicative moratorium map.
The instruction renews the moratorium that was introduced after Indonesia and Norway signed a US$1 billion deal in 2011 for Indonesia to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and rate of deforestation.
Despite the moratorium, the Forestry Ministry recently approved the Aceh administration’s request to convert protected forests into non-forest zones through spatial planning bylaws.
While the government said that it approved converting 80,000 forest hectares to “other utilization areas” [APL], environmental NGOs claim that the go-ahead might have been given to convert upwards of 1.2 million hectares.
Zenzi said that the government should levy sanctions on individuals or companies that violate the moratorium. “The previous moratorium policy did not clearly include punishments for those who would violate the regulation. The current revision will hopefully better pose a deterrent effect.”
Separately, Sawit Watch executive director Jefri Gideon Saragih said that many illegal concessions were granted to palm oil plantations during the moratorium, violating the rights of local residents.
“Even though the moratorium has been in place for the past two years, in reality, new exploitation for palm oil plantations still took place in forested areas, including in national parks, without any strong law enforcement from the central government,” Jefri said.
Ade Cholik Mutaqin of the Participative Mapping Working Network voiced a similar concern, saying that permits for palm oil plantations were granted in Riau during the moratorium, affecting the residents in 14 villages. “These illegal exploitations have diminished the rights of local residents to access natural resources,” Ade said. “Our concern is mainly to urge the government to review the permits that were issued during the moratorium.”
According to Forestry Ministry secretary-general Hadi Daryanto, the ministry had its hands tied.
“We do not have a mechanism to annul concession permits that were issued by a provincial administration, particularly in non-forested areas such as peatlands,” Hadi told the Post.
“As we already know, the moratorium did not provide for any sanctions,” Hadi told the Post on Thursday.
