A two-year moratorium on new permits will not effectively protect the environment unless the government also bans logging in remaining natural forest and peatland areas, activists warn.
They said the success of the moratorium could not be measured only by its duration.
A study by the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) showed that at least four criteria were needed to ensure the success of the moratorium aimed at slashing emissions from forests and peatland.
Those measures, among others, include no conversion of remaining natural forests for industrial purposes, and no overlapping land use.
The study also said the government should provide access to local communities, such as the Dayak people in Kalimantan or Suku Anak Dalam in Jambi to help control the forest.
“The government must ensure that no permits are given to conserve important ecological areas such as mangroves, peat, quarts and river banks,” it said.
Walhi’s campaigner director, Teguh Surya said the planned presidential decree should answer the criteria if it wanted the moratorium to be a success.
Walhi previously proposed a 15 year logging moratorium to allow time for the government to recover the country’s forest and environment.
“But, such limitation of contract won’t be effective if there is no clear criteria,” he said.
Indonesia and Norway signed the forest partnership to cut deforestation in a bid to slash emissions from forest and peatland.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pledged to impose a two-year moratorium on converting Indonesian forests and peatland into plantations.
Yudhoyono also promised that he would personally monitor the implementation of the forestry partnership to ensure the moratorium would be implemented by local administrations.
The Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, said the pledged money would only be disbursed if Norway saw progress in Indonesia.
Indonesia is the world’s third-largest forest nation with about 120 million hectares of rainforest after Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The rate of deforestation in Indonesia reached over 1 million hectares per year due to the illegal expansion of plantations and forest fires.
Greenomics Indonesia predicted the two-year moratorium could prevent the conversion of some 1.97 million hectares of natural forest and peatland in Indonesia.
“From an economic perspective, the US$1 billion compensation pledged by Norway is too small if Indonesia wants to stop the conversion of 1.97 million hectares,” said the executive director of Greenomics Indonesia, Elfian Effendi.
He said that a study by Greenomics showed that Indonesia needed at least $7.5 billion in financial compensation to stop the conversion of 1.48 million hectares of natural forest and peatland.
He said the government had failed to make accurate economic calculations before pledging the two-year moratorium.
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