JAKARTA – The timeframe of oil palm moratorium and evaluation based on the presidential instruction No.8/2018 had ended on 19 September 2021.
Will the government extend the policy that has been implemented during the last three years or will it end the policy?
A number of groups have called on President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to continue the moratorium policy. They said that there are at least 4 reasons why the moratorium should be extended. First, the improvement of oil palm licensing procedures has not been completed yet. Second, oil palm productivity increase is not yet maximized. Third, there is no yet legal certainty for sustainable palm oil. Fourth, it is needed to ensure Indonesia’s commitment to mitigate climate change.
Madani Berkelanjutan Foundation Founder Teguh Surya said that based on data collected in 2020, there was a total of 11.9 million hectares already licensed for oil palm plantations but not yet planted, 10.7 million hectares licensed and already planted, and 8.4 million hectares of oil palm plantations that are not yet licensed.
Teguh said that the data shows that there are still many land sites that have not had clear legal status. “These problems should be addressed through the evaluation of licenses, verification of oil palm acreage with data of licenses inside or outside forests,” Teguh said in a press release issued on Sunday, 19 September 2021.
EcoNusa Foundation Chief Executive Officer Bustar Maitar said that the government should seriously conduct an evaluation of licenses to prevent potential state losses.
Until now, only several regional governments that had conducted evaluations of oil palm licenses in forested areas, such as those in Kalimantan and in other provinces.
“Evaluations of oil palm licenses are aimed to maximize the state income and save the state assets. From the cases we found in West Papua, from around 650,000 ha of oil palm licensed by the government, only around 52,000 ha that are really planted with oil palm trees. Potential loss from taxes is very big,” said Bustar.
Meanwhile, Strengthening Palm Oil Sustainability in Indonesia (SPOS Indonesia) Program Director Irfan Bakhtiar said that Indonesia still needs the second phase of moratorium. “The government should extend the moratorium in order to finalize the unfinished works of evaluation and improvement in the oil palm oil sector. The government will suffer from the potential loss if it does not extend the policy,” he said in a press release recently.
The ministry of environment and forestry (KLHK) Forestry and Environment Management Director General Ruandha Agung Sugardiman said that they have conducted evaluations and working on a formulation of new steps to improve the oil palm industry. “Together with other ministries, we’re identifying the oil palm plantations that are encroaching into the forests. So far, we’ve managed to clear the status of 700,000 ha of oil palm plantations that are previously listed as encroaching the forests. But now, they’ve already had clear legal status. We’ve filed all proposals to accelerate the improvement of oil palm plantations to President. We’re waiting for the response of President,” said Ruandha. (*)
Source: Kompas.com/Antara | Featured image via jakpost.net
