Jumat, 24 Mei 2013

Government recognizes customary forests

Nadya Natahadibrata, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Headlines | Sat, May 18 2013, 9:54 AM

Paper Edition | Page: 1

The government was due to begin mapping areas defined as customary and
state forests following the Constitutional Court's ruling that rendered
the government's ownership of customary forests void, a top forestry
official has said.

On Thursday, the court decided to scrap the word "state" from Article 1
of the 1999 Forestry Law, which says "customary forests are state
forests located in the areas of custom-based communities".

The court also ruled that the government had to recognize indigenous
communities' ownership of customary forests. "Indigenous peoples have
the right to own and exploit their customary forests to meet their daily
needs," Justice Muhammad Alim said on Thursday as quoted by Antara.

The annulment determined two types of forest status: state forests and
public forests, with the latter also divided into two categories:
customary forests and individual forests.

"As there is now a division between state forests and public forests, it
will no longer be possible for public forests to be located within state
forests or vice versa," he said.

Forestry Ministry secretary-general Hadi Daryanto said the ministry had
launched a program in 2010 to allocate 2.5 million hectares of forest
areas as village forests, as a substitute for customary forests for
indigenous people. The program is slated to be completed in 2014.

"With the annulment by the Constitutional Court, we will redefine the
designated areas of village forests that are not located in state
forests or private forests," he said.

Hadi added that customary forest areas could not be regulated by the
central government as, according to Article 67 of the Forestry Law,
customary forests were to be regulated under bylaws.

"Article 67 of Law No. 41/1999 on forestry was not annulled by the MK
[Constitutional Court] and currently, no regional administration has
issued a bylaw on customary forests," Hadi told The Jakarta Post.

He said it was the ministry's task to draft a government regulation to
force local administrations to acknowledge customary forests in bylaws;
something that has long been requested by several parties.

In March 2010, the Alliance of Indigenous Peoples (AMAN) filed a
judicial review with the Constitutional Court, accusing the government
of frequently violating the rights of indigenous peoples by taking over
customary forests and turning them into state-controlled areas.

The state, according to AMAN, repeatedly granted concessions to
businesspeople to establish plantations or construct mines while
ignoring the rights of indigenous people.

Ade Cholik Mutaqin of the Participative Mapping Working Network (JKPP)
said the government's challenge following the annulment would be in
completing the map delineating borders between state forests, private
forests and customary forests.

He added that the JKPP had drawn up a map, with assistance from
indigenous people across the country, showing customary forest borders,
which had been sent to the Environment Ministry. "Our map shows that
there are 2.6 million hectares of customary forest in Indonesia, with
the largest area, 700,000 hectares, located in West Kalimantan and
around 50,000 hectares in Papua," Ade said.

He added, however, that the map did not yet include all areas in every
province due to geographical challenges.

Selasa, 07 Mei 2013

Seberapa Mampu Moratorium Mengurangi Emisi dari Deforestasi?

Penulis : Yunanto Wiji Utomo | Senin, 6 Mei 2013 | 17:42 WIB
 KOMPAS.com - Umur moratorium hutan yang dilaksanakan berdasarkan Inpres No 10 Tahun 2011 tinggal beberapa hari lagi. Tanggal 20 Mei 2013 ini, moratorium hutan akan berakhir.

Banyak pihak mengharapkan agar moratorium bisa dilanjutkan. Namun, mengapa harus dilanjutkan? Tujuan utama moratorium adalah untuk memperbaiki tata kelola hutan serta mengurangi deforestasi. Tapi, banyak pihak juga mengharapkan agar moratorium bisa mengurangi emisi karbon dioksida.

Seberapa besar emisi karbon dioksida sebenarnya bisa dikurangi dengan moratorium? Organisasi Conservation International (CI) memaparkan hasil kajiannya dalam diskusi yang diselenggarakan World Resources Institute, Senin (6/5/2013).

Jonas Busch dari CI memaparkan, "Dengan moratorium, pengurangan emisi gas rumah kaca dari deforestasi di hutan primer dan gambut bisa berkurang 8,3 persen."

Busch mengungkapkan, pengurangan itu tidak didasarkan pada hasil moratorium antara tahun 2011-2013. CI melakukan kajian luas hutan, deforestasi serta konsesi hutan untuk kebun dan hutan tanaman industri (HTI) antara 2000-2010 dan kemudian memghitung pengurangan emisi dengan moratorium.

CI mulai menilik kondisi hutan pada tahun 2000. Luas hutan total mencapai 94,2 juta hektar. Luas kebun sawit saat itu hanya 7,8 hektar, luas HTI 6,5 juta hektar dan ilayah hutan yang  dilindungi 7,2 juta hektar.

Namun, dalam satu dekade, deforestasi berlangsung sangat cepat. Jumlah area hutan yang mengalami deforestasi mencapai 8,8 juta hektar.

Dari 8,8 juta hektar hutan yang mengalami deforestasi antara tahun 2000 - 2010, sekitar 1,3 juta (lebih dari 15 persen) pada tahun 2010 telah menjadi kebun sawit. Sementara, dari total 5,4 juta hektar kebun sawit pada tahun 2010, 1,3 juta hektar adalah hutan alam di tahun 2000.

Busch mengatakan, kontribusi kebun sawit dan hutan tanaman industri paling paling besar dalam deforestasi. Laju konsesi untuk kebun sawit sebesar rata-rata 61 persen per tahunnya. Sedangkan laju deforestasi untuk hutan tanaman industri bahkan lebih tinggi, rata-rata 112 persen.

Deforestasi yang terjadi antara 2000 - 2010 menyebabkan emisi 7004 Metrik Ton Karbon Dioksida Ekuivalen (MtCO2e). Konsesi sawit menyumbang 1369 MtCO2e sementara HTI menyumbang 1854 MtCO2e.

Analisis lebih lanjut menyatakan, konsesi baru sendiri menyumbang emisi sebesar 1105 MtCO2e. Untuk konsesi baru di wilayah hutan primer dan lahan gambut, emisi yang ditimbulkan sebesar 1002 MtCO2e.

Dari perhitungan yang dilakukan, jumlah emisi yang bisa dikurangi dengan moratorium di kawasan hutan primer dan gambut sebesar 578 MtCO2e atau sebesar 8,3 persen dari total emisi akibat deforestasi.

Perkiraan tersebut tidak memasukkan adanya emisi dari degradasi hutan, upaya reforestasi atau konsesi lain yang tak diketahui.

Jumlah pengurangan emisi bisa diperbesar jika moratorium diperluas. Jika moratorium mencakup hutan sekunder, maka pengurangan emisi mencapai 9 persen sementara jika memasukkan penebangan maka pengurangan emisi bisa mencapai 9,6 persen.

Busch merekomendasikan bahwa moratorium tidak hanya harus dilanjutkan tetapi juga diperluas, misalnya memasukkan hutan sekunder, penebangan baru dan mengevaluasi lagi konsesi yang ada saat ini.
Editor :
yunan