Forest-Conservation Scheme Scarred By Violations in Central Kalimantan

Fidelis E Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 29 Mar 11;

A pilot project for forest conservation in Central Kalimantan continues to be plagued by land use violations, an official said on Monday.

Nielson R. Nihin, head of the Lamandau district environment agency, said there were at least 18 plantation firms in the district that were operating without a mandatory environmental impact analysis (Amdal).

He said the companies, mostly oil palm firms occupying 200,000 hectares of land, were also violating zoning regulations.

“There’s a regulation stipulating that nothing may be planted on a 45-degree slope, but you can see that they’ve planted oil palms there,” Nihin said.

The entire province has been made into a pilot project for the REDD Plus scheme, an UN-backed mechanism for forest conservation where countries with large forests will get compensation in return for preserving them.

The project is part of an agreement between Indonesia and Norway, signed in 2010, worth $1 billion.

Nihin said efforts to crack down on the violations were hampered by a lack of coordination between his office and the local forestry and plantations office.

“The forestry and plantations office is the one with the authority to revoke the companies’ permits, but we haven’t been able to see eye-to-eye on the issue,” he said.

“So all that we’ve been able to do is issue warnings.”

He also said his office had issued valid Amdals to five of the companies and was working on three others.

Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta said the problem in Lamandau and other parts of Central Kalimantan highlighted the need for regional administrations to amend their spatial planning policies in line with the REDD Plus pilot project.

“There are plenty of cases where no permits have been issued but the land is already being used,” he said.

“In those cases, the status [of the land] is still forest area.

“However, while we can’t just go out there and cut down all the oil palm trees that have been planted, there will be some sort of punishment [for the companies],” the minister went on.

“We’ve discussed the issue with the Forestry Ministry and asked that they stop issuing any more concessions.”

Gusti said that because Central Kalimantan was now a REDD Plus pilot project, there should be no new permits issued to clear forests, including peatlands, anywhere in the province.

A million hectares of high-carbon peatland in Central Kalimantan was converted into rice paddies under an ambitious program by the New Order government of former President Suharto.