Indonesia’s decision to return customary lands to indigenous peoples is a breakthrough for their rights and a boost to campaigners pushing for a slowdown in deforestation in the Southeast Asian country, a leading rights activist said. President Joko Widodo announced on Dec. 30 that Indonesia would return 13,000 hectares of customary lands to nine indigenous communities, […]
Read MoreAccording to the Jakarta Post, the Indonesian Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG) will require forest concessionaires to restore 1.4 million hectares of peatland starting in January 2017. The move is set to affect 650,389 hectares managed by 36 forest concessionaires in five provinces, namely South Sumatra, Central Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, Riau and Jambi, BRG head Nazir […]
Read MorePresident Joko Widodo granted part of the customary forests lying within a Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) pulpwood concession to an indigenous group as a symbol of the state’s recognition of customary forests in Indonesia. The conflict between indigenous groups and the a pulpwood company PT TPL, a subsidiary of pulp giant RGE (also controlling APRIL)has […]
Read MoreThe Environment and Forestry Minister ordered recently APRIL to remove the newly-planted acacia and close any new canals that had been opened in their concession. APRIL however stated that the order was not valid, claiming that removing the planted acacia would disrupt the ecological functions of the peatlands, making them vulnerable to peat fires and […]
Read MoreRiau environmental coalition Jikalahari said that APP should remove the recently and unlawfully planted acacia, as ordered by the ministry: “we really hope that the APP companies exploiting last year’s burned peatlands face the full force of the law, both administrative and civil as well as criminal,” Jikalahari Chairwoman Woro Supartinah told foresthints.news. “The legal prohibition […]
Read MoreIndonesia’s Ministry of the Environment and Forestry has reiterated that no legal authorisation was ever granted to the giant conglomerate Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) to replant acacia in last year’s burned peatlands scattered across the island of Sumatra, especially in its three concessions in South Sumatra province. The government issued a new regulation that forbid […]
Read MoreTwo key stakeholders of APRIL’s Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC), Greenpeace and the WWF, have announced that they are suspending their engagement with the committee. The committee has been created to supervise the implementation of APRIL policy. However in the last months, implementation has been extremely slow, while the company has been found in major breaches, […]
Read MoreAfter doing checks on the field, the Indonesia’s Environment and Forestry Ministry concluded that there has been no peat restoration activity this year in APP’s suppliers concessions. Instead, APP has been carrying out replanting of acacia in last year’s burned peatlands, an activity prohibited by a ministerial regulation since mid-December 2015. “As of early December this […]
Read MoreThe Indonesian government has issued Government Regulation (PP) No. 57/2016 as a revision of PP No. 71/2014 on peatland ecosystem management and protection. “President Joko Widodo signed PP No. 57/2016 on December 2, 2016,” Secretary General of the Environmental Affairs and Forestry Ministry Bambang Hendroyono said here, Tuesday. The process of revising the government regulation […]
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