Govt needs to settle tenure problems over forested land
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 05/22/2009 4:36 PM
The government should use the impetus of carbon trading from the forestry sector to settle the country’s long-standing forestry problems, mainly concerned with tenure over land and trees, to avoid conflicts once emission reduction from deforestation and degradation is included in the new climate change regime, an activist said.
Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI) said the tenure of forested land would become the main problem for Indonesia in implementing the REDD mechanism.
“The crucial work now is how to settle tenure problems over land and forest if Indonesia wants to get the benefits from the REDD mechanism,” FWI coordinator for public campaigns and policy dialogue Wirendro Sumargo told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
FWI said local communities living around the forest would become the victims if there are no clear regulations on the tenure of forested land.
The government claims that Indonesia has about 120 million hectares of rainforest, as the world’s third largest forested country after Brazil and the Republic of Congo. The 1999 Forestry Law stipulates all forested land is owned by the state.
The government has issued a ministerial decree on REDD, paving the way for local communities, companies, both domestic and foreign, and local administrations to host REDD projects.
It says only people having forest licenses would be eligible to get a permit for REDD projects that could be “sold” to rich nations within the carbon trading mechanism.
Emissions from deforestation and degradation account for about 20 percent of global emissions.
Head of the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat Yvo de Boer said that the REDD mechanism would very likely be included in the Copenhagen climate pact slated to be agreed at the end of this year.
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