INDONESIA’S PEATLAND GOVERNANCE

A huge task. In the past, Indonesia experienced unsustainable peatland management leading to the degradation of peatland and peat fires. Thinking over the negative impacts resulted from peat degradation and fires, the government of Indonesia has prioritized the protection and sustainable management of peatlands, including the restoration of heavily degraded peatlands. Presidential Instruction No. 8 of 2015 on the Suspension of New Licenses and the Improvement of Primary Forest and Peatland Governance or commonly referred to as Inpres Moratorium is a monumental decision reflecting the commitment of Indonesian government to reform its peatland and forest management. It has targeted the postponement of formal licenses for companies. The coverage of peatlands and primary forests affected by this policy has been mapped and update every six months. This political will has been supported or followed up by other regulations, including:

   1.      Government Regulation No. 57 of 2016 on the Amendment of the Government Regulation No. 71 of 2014 on the Protection and Management of Peat Ecosystem;

   2.      Environment and Forestry Ministerial Regulation No. 15 of 2017 on the Procedures for Measuring Water Table in the Peat Ecosystem Management Area;

   3.      Environment and Forestry Ministerial Regulation No. 16 of 2017 on the Technical Guide for Recovering the Function of Peat Ecosystem; and

   4.      Environment and Forestry Ministerial Decree No. 77/2015 on the Mechanisms to Deal with Burnt Area within Production Forest Concessions;

   5.      Environment and Forestry Ministerial Regulation No. 17 of 2017 on the Amendment of the Environment and Forestry Ministerial Regulation No. 12 of 2015 on the Development of Industrial Plantation Forest.

   6.      Environment and Forestry Ministerial Decree No. 129 of 2017 on the Development of Peat Hydrological Unity Map

   7.      Environment and Forestry Ministerial Decree No. 130 of 2017 on the Development of Peat Ecosystem Function Map.

Government Regulation No. 57 of 2016 is intended to intensify the efforts for protecting and sustainably managing peatland, responding to the big peat fire in 2015. Environment and Forestry Ministerial Regulation No. 15 of 2017 guides the measurement of water table at the peat ecosystem management sites, while Environment and Forestry Ministerial Regulation No. 16 of 2017 is providing guidance to improve efforts for protecting vulnerable peat ecosystems. In addition, Environment and Forestry Ministerial Decrees No. 129 and 130 of 2017 classify peat hydrological unit as protection and cultivation areas.

Environment and Forestry Ministerial Decree No. 77/2015 guides the restoration of peat ecosystem in production forest. This regulation is an effort to have a better management of timber within Indonesia’s peatlands. Furthermore, Environment and Forestry Ministerial Regulation No. 17 of 2017 provides directions for concession holders in restructuring and reforming their working

areas. These regulations may be lesson learned for other countries such as Democratic Republic of Congo that now has about 20% of its peatlands under forest concessions, and approximately 53% of these are in the process (Miles et al., 2017).

            The results of Indonesia’s political will and commitment to implement sustainable management of peatland are dramatic. The extent of fire in 2017 decreased by 61.8% compared to fires in 2016 and by 93.6% compared to the extent of fire in 2015. Table 1 shows the reduction of

the area burnt and number of hotspot during 2015 – 2017.

            The success to reduce the number of hotspots and the area burnt during the last three years has led to the reduction of emissions from forests and lands, including from peatlands. Emissions from peat fires in 2017 was about 12,5 million tons CO2e or only 1.56% of emissions from peat fires in 2015 that reached 803 million tons CO2e. This is a big achievement that need to be maintained and institutionalized at all level of governments, from central to provincial and district until village governments.

Policies and regulations developed for governing Indonesian peatland have also been supported by law enforcement implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry and other law enforcement bodies. After big land and forest fires in 2015, about 500 cases have already been brought to justice and some of them have received sanctions, including a historic USD 1.2 billion fine to a private corporation proven to have committed crimes against the environment. This law enforcement does not only prevent others to do similar crimes, but also improves public trust in environmental law enforcement in Indonesia.
DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT: CLICK HERE