Managers

All natural forests are owned and administered by the state. In 1998, the Ministry of Forestry was enlarged to the Ministry of Agriculture and Estate Crops. On August 23, 2000 this became the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Finally, by Presidential decree on November 6, 2000, this was split into the Ministry of Agriculture and an independent Ministry of Forestry.

The Ministry of Forestry provides policy and guidelines for managing the forest, while implementation is the responsibility of the respective forestry enterprises, private companies and NGO¿s. Forest resources are protected and maintained by the Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation within the Ministry. The Ministry is supported by the Centre for Education and Training for the Private Sector, and the Centre for Forestry Employees Training. Also important for forest management are the Ministries of Agriculture, Environment, Transmigration and Forest Squatter Resettlement. Lands not designated as state-controlled forest are under the authority of the Directorate General of Agrarian Affairs. An Association of Indonesian Forest Concessionaires acts on behalf of concessionaires.

The Indonesia Ecolabelling Institute (LEI) was established in 1994 as an independent certifying body. In addition, a Technical Accreditation Committee (KAIT) constituting members from relevant forestry institutions, including NGOs, under the co-ordination of the Ministry of Forestry, oversees certification in Indonesia. An Environmental Impact Management Agency is based in Jakarta. The Forest and Nature Conservation Research & Development Centre has responsibility for managing and co-ordinating all forest research and development activities. The Forest Products Research and Development Centre is a research organization within the Ministry of Forestry.

Public participation in forest management

The Indonesian government is committed to improving public participation forestry benefits. A reform agenda for forestry state enterprises includes eight rescue programmes and two recovery programmes. The rescue programmes of the forestry state enterprises include empowerment of forest dependent people via increased production and utilization of the taungya system. Under this system, people are given access to productive assets while land preparation continues to be undertaken by industrial forest plantation owners and concessionaires.

A Village Development Programme (HPH Bina Desa) was introduced in 1991 and consists of five programmes: sedentary agriculture, infrastructure provision, socio-cultural activities, income generation, and forest resource development. The scheme involves forest concessionaires, the dwellers and/or local communities, local government and the Ministry of Forestry. Under this scheme, forest concessionaires have an obligation to care for local communities through creation of forestry activities designed by them. Concessionaires are expected to achieve full local community participation and respond to community aspirations. Concessionaires are also required to provide employment for villagers and to help them develop sedentary farming practices. One of the aims of the Village Development Programme is to reduce encroachment into forested areas. A ministerial decree also allows industrial forest plantation concessionaires to undertake diversification into agricultural crops within a forest utilization system, where this involves the participation of small-scale enterprises and cooperatives. Farmers are also able to establish small woodlots using soft-money loans from the Ministry of Forestry. It is estimated that in 1996 there were 1.27 million hectares of such woodlots of which 1 million hectares were in Java.

Other programmes that have social/community development objectives include the Timber Estate Development Programme, the Community Forest Development Programme, and the Community Mangrove-Forest Development Programme. Data for 1995 indicate that community forests covered 637 750 hectares across the country. The number of people employed in the forestry sector rose from around 10.6 million in 1993 to about 15.4 million in 1998.

last updated: Tuesday, November 24, 2009