JAKARTA – Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar has stated that oil palm plantation companies and smallholders can only develop their plantations in areas already released from forested areas or under the status of areas for other uses, which are locally known as APL.
Minister Siti denies the solution given by the government to the problematic oil palm plantations as a kind of legal-washing or amnesty as they only legalize those not located in forest areas, while those overlapped with legal status as forest areas will be reclaimed as forest areas.
“KLHK (environment and forestry ministry) has never claimed that the solution over the oil palm plantations that are overlapped with forest areas is implemented through a program of legal-washing,” she said.
She asserted that the land area problem is purely the problem of overlapping status between oil palm plantations and forest areas. “Such legal status has been there for tens of years and it has been stipulated by laws. The legal problem of oil palm plantations was resulted from legal dispute,” she said.
According to her, the legal dispute was originated from the issuance of the regional autonomy law (UU Otonomi Daerah — Otda) in May 1999, which allows regents and mayors to issue plantation licenses. Many regents have issued licenses since then. Then, the regulation on licensing changed.
“The government issued the forestry law (UU Kehutanan) in 1999, the plantation law (UU Perkebunan), UU No.27/2006, spatial planning law (UU Tata Ruang) as a revision of the previous law (1992). This is a regulation dispute,” Minister Siti told the press when attending a ceremony to celebrate the national day of nature conservation (HKAN) 2023 in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan, on Wednesday, 8 November 2023.
She said that they need to see the legal standing of oil palm plantations found in the forest areas. If they use the regulations issued by the regional governments, then they are legal.
“But are they in line with the spatial planning ruled by UU No.24/1992? If they are, then there is no problem. Why is it questioned? They are considered after being made as part of forest areas. It’s based on prevailing regulations, and very technical,” said Siti. (*)
Source: sawitku.id
