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Jobs law may replace expired oil palm moratorium, official says
The moratorium, enacted by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo three years ago required government agencies to stop granting new licenses for palm oil concessions and to review existing ones every three years.
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Environmental matters: An aerial photo shows an oil palm plantation in Bulutumbang, Belitung. (JP/Donny Fernando)
T
he remaining swaths of oil palm plantations inside forest areas will have to be resolved by the controversial Job Creation Law and its implementing regulations if the expiring moratorium on new plantations is not extended after the three-year run, an official says.
The moratorium, enacted by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo three years ago in September through Presidential Instruction (Perpres) No. 8/2018, required government agencies to stop granting new licenses for palm oil concessions and to review existing ones every three years. It was expected to improve palm oil governance and was put in place amid concerns of deforestation caused by oil palm plantations near or inside forest areas.
The moratorium expiring on Sunday and the government has yet to extend it so far, amid calls for an extension from environmentalists.
But a senior official at the Office of the Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister told The Jakarta Post that the moratorium was "no longer relevant" because the Job Creation Law, enacted in 2020, and its newer implementing regulations had already adopted mechanisms and principles more or less similar to the moratorium. He said they would clear up any overlaps between palm oil concessions and forest areas.
"The newer regulations already set out fines and sanctions for oil palm plantations if they are found inside forest areas, whether unintentionally [cultivated] or not," undersecretary for spatial planning and strategic economic zones Dodi Slamet Riyadi said on Friday.
This includes two government regulations (PP) on administrative sanctions in the forestry sector and on settlements for spatial planning-related conflicts, as well as an environment ministerial regulation on forestry spatial planning. They were all enacted this year.
One of the regulations says that plantations that were opened "unintentionally" inside forest areas before the moratorium was in place may be fined or have their permits revoked. Those that are sanctioned with fines are allowed to resume operation after their owners pay the required amount.
