JAKARTA – Indonesia’s oil palm plantations have made significant progress in protecting forests, an international forest monitoring agency reported.
Niels Wielaard, Founder & CEO of Satelligence, an international provider of satellite-based services of forest cover monitoring, said that based on its satellite monitoring in 2021 the percentage of forest cover loss resulted from oil palm activities in Indonesia dropped drastically.
Niels said that in compliance with the commitment of no deforestation, no peat lands, and no exploitation (NDPE) since 2015, there was a significant decrease of forest cover loss in 2021 when deforestation dropped by 87% from 907,513 hectares (ha) reported in 2015.
The satellite finding has completed the data from the ministry of environment and forestry (KLHK) during the previous period–2019-2020, when the forest cover loss decreased by 75.03% or only at 115,460 ha. “This is a positive trend that should be maintained,” he said in a press release on Tuesday, 16 August 2022.
The report is contrary to the public opinion in the European Union (EU), where 80% respondents opined that globally the palm oil is considered as the commodity that is most closely-related to deforestation.
Based on the observation of Satelligence, the producers of palm oil have shown their good performances in reducing the forest cover loss if compared to the producers of other commodities.
The decline of deforestation is a good sign, as forest protection has become one of the global concerns in the international markets of commodities. “This is a challenge for all of us,” Niels said.
His statement is based on EU regulation on the due diligence of exporters regarding the risks of forest cover loss.
The private sector’s commitment to NDPE is also in line with Indonesia’s presidential instruction (Inpres) No.6/2019 on national action plan of sustainable oil palm plantations 2019-2024. It requires palm oil producers to intensify efforts of conserving biodiversity. It has been realized by oil palm growers by allocating certain areas of their plantation concessions for the environmental conservation.
“The NDPE commitment and the government policy have accelerated the efforts of palm oil producers in realizing the sustainability in the aspects of environment, social, and economy,” said Niels.
Actually, in terms of regulation the protection of forests and peat lands has been initiated in Indonesia since 2011, through Inpres No.10/2011 on moratorium of new licenses and improvement of governance of primary forest and peat lands. The regulation was a stop-gap measure taken by the government in protecting the forests and improving its governance.
The palm oil commodity has also drawn special attention through the issuance of Inpres No.8/2018 on moratorium and evaluation of oil palm plantations and improvement of oil palm governance. Although it was ended in September 2021, Indonesia has been continually realizing its strong commitment to protect forests.
It has been proven through the issuance of Inpres No.5/2019 on stopping new licenses and improving governance of primary forests and peat lands, which is a continuation of the same policy since 2011 and still effective until now.
Aside from the significant achievement, efforts to reduce deforestation should be continually pursued in Indonesia. “Identifying the risks of forest cover loss is half of the fight, and transparency is the key,” said Niels.
Satellite-based monitoring can help companies in giving early warning on the risk of deforestation in the areas of supply chain, which allow the palm oil industry players to identify solutions and take the right steps to minimize the environmental damages.
Through the celebration of world nature conservation day on 28 July and the national nature conservation day on 10 August, Indonesians are reminded on the importance of maintaining the balance between the economic development and the nature conservation.
Despite the need for further improvement, the achievement of Indonesia’s palm oil producers should be appreciated as a real result of the collaborations among all stakeholders. (*)
Source: KONTAN.CO.ID
