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What next after Indonesia ends freeze on palm permits?
Top officials have said new permit applications will be rejected, but experts warned of a lack of legal clarity, and environmentalists feared an increase in forest clearance.
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Fruits of labor: An oil palm plantation worker transports oil palm fruits with a wheelbarrow in Rantau Bais village, Rokan Hilir regency, Riau, on March 8. ASEAN and the European Union have returned to the negotiating table to discuss Europe’s resistance to palm oil. (Antara/Aswaddy Hamid)
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resident Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in September ended a temporary freeze on new permits for palm oil plantations, in place since 2018, despite environmentalists' calls for it to be extended to protect the forests.
Top officials have said new permit applications will be rejected, but experts warned of a lack of legal clarity, and environmentalists feared an increase in forest clearance.
Indonesia is home to the world's third-largest tropical forests and is a top producer of palm oil.
Forest fires - often to clear up land for plantations - have been an annual disaster in the country, but green groups said the moratorium has played a part in reducing primary forest losses.
What Has Jokowi Said About The Moratorium?
Jokowi said he had considered the moratorium permanent since parliament passed an omnibus "Job Creation" law in 2020, which brings in a new approach for processing business permits in Southeast Asia's largest economy.
"I've ordered for this to be inserted in the law so that we don't have to renew it every time it expires ... So when (the country's) leadership changes, there is no change in policy," the president said in an interview with Reuters last week.
