Detail

Indonesia

Oilseeds, oils and meals

Oil palm

18/09/2018

Other

Environmental policy

Signed a three-year nationwide moratorium on new oil palm plantation licences, supplementing an existing ban on primary forest and peat land clearing.

Under consideration since more than two years (see MPPU June, Aug.’16 & Mar.’18), a three-year nationwide moratorium on new oil palm plantation licenses has finally been signed by Indonesia’s President in September. The initiative is part of wider efforts to protect the country’s environment and complements a ban on primary forest and peat land clearing that is in place since 2011 (see MPPU Aug.’11, June’13, May’15 & June’17). The new moratorium is aimed at improving the governance of sustainable production, guaranteeing environmental preservation and providing legal clarity, as well as at incentivizing farmers to raise yields on land currently under cultivation. Importantly, the moratorium does not only applies to new requests for licenses but also to permits that are currently under review. Accordingly, governors, mayors and district chiefs have been instructed to re-evaluate long-standing permits that have been issued but not yet implemented, in particular licenses that involve forest areas. Civil society groups, which had called for a permanent ban, asked for the data gathered under the permit review to be made publicly available. They also spotted perceived weaknesses in the moratorium’s law-enforcement and requested that police forces, the Attorney General Office and the country’s anti-graft agency be involved in the investigations.