M

uch of the burden for the restoration of damaged peatland areas, which often cause forest fires and haze, lies heavily on the private sector in control of concession areas as 531 companies operate in restoration areas.

A map by Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG) reveals that 2.7 million hectares of peatland have to be restored over the next five years to prevent recurring land and forest fires.

Out of 2.7 million ha, 2.3 million, or 87 percent, are in concession areas.

“So the restoration work in these concession areas will be done by private companies. What we do is just supervise and facilitate,” BRG planning and cooperation deputy Budi S. Wardhana said.

The BRG has been able to map out which companies are responsible for the restoration of areas that have been damaged by years of peatland fires.

Most of them are agroforestry companies, with 217 palm oil companies operating across 589,000 ha of restoration area.

And then there are 109 pulp and paper companies operating across 609,000 ha as well as 109 companies that produce natural forest products across 59,000 ha.

The pulp and paper company with the biggest restoration responsibility is PT Bumi Mekar Hijau (BMH), a supplier to the Sinar Mas Group, one of Indonesia’s largest conglomerates.

The company was at the center of a controversial court verdict last year, when the Palembang District Court in South Sumatra rejected a Rp 7.8 trillion lawsuit against BMH.

BMH was sued by the government for its alleged criminality in the burning of 20,000 ha of its concession area in Ogan Komering Ilir, South Sumatra, in 2014.

However, presiding judge Parlas Nababan said that BMH was not guilty as it was still able to plant acacia trees in the concession after it was burned up, which, according to him, meant that there could not have been any environmental damage.

While BMH won in court, it is still being held responsible for restoring 95,000 ha of damaged peatland that fall within its concession area, Budi said.

Another company, PT Bumi Andalas Permai, a major supplier to giant pulp and paper company Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), has to restore 91,500 ha of peatland, out of the 193,000 ha that it owns.

“Only 33,000 ha are managed well,” Budi said.

Another major pulp and paper producer, PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP), meanwhile, has to restore 27,000 ha out of the 213,000 ha that it owns in peatland areas.

“They manage 90,000 ha well,” said Budi.

The BRG also found that more than 800,000 ha of damaged peatland areas are located in peat domes, which should have been protected.

“Peat domes shouldn’t have been opened up for concessions but almost all of them have been converted to industrial forest concessions. So that’s a mistake,” BRG head Nazir Foead said.

Therefore, the BRG will instruct concession owners to return the function of peat domes, which are used to preserve large amounts of water.

“They could just move their plants to other areas that could be cultivated,” Nazir said.

If the companies are not willing to restore their damaged peatland areas, then the government could revoke their permits as stipulated by Environmental and Forestry Ministerial Regulation No. 77/2015, he said.

In the next three weeks, the BRG will summon all responsible companies and instruct them to restore their concessions. They will also give companies the opportunity to refine the restoration map.

“We are opening ourselves up. If our data needs to be verified or corrected, we will support that process,” said Nazir.
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