JAKARTA – The environment and forestry ministry’s (KLHK) Secretary General Bambang Hendroyono confirmed that some parts of the oil palm plantations previously suspected encroaching forest areas are actually legal and not problematic.

“The only problem is concerned with the law no.26/2007 on spatial planning which still mentions their status as parts of forest areas,” Bambang said during a national coordination meeting to discuss about the 3.37 million hectares of oil palm plantations found encroaching forest areas with regard to the implementation of presidential instruction (Inpres) no.6/2019.

Bambang said that the government needs to conduct an identification and clarification of the plantations found encroaching forest areas. “We see that both of the economic coordinating ministry, and the agrarian and spatial planning ministry/national land agency (ATR/BPN) have stated that a total of 3.37 million hectares of oil palm plantations need reidentification and reclarification,” he said.

According to him, it is necessary to ensure that the omnibus law on job creation (UUCK) on the environment and forestry is in line with the acceleration of solving the problems of oil palm plantations in forest areas. “In line with the UUCK, KLHK has set up a task force to implement the UUCK. It will particularly accelerate solving the problems of plantations in forest areas,” said Bambang.

He said that the task force of implementation and supervision will coordinate with related stakeholders to resolve the problems of palm plantations found in forest areas. “We’ll ensure that there will be no more problems of overlapping regulations and no more legal uncertainty. That way we can ensure the productivity of oil palm plantations owned by smallholders and private companies,” he said. (*)

Source: sawitku.id