Satgas REDDplus Dinilai Gagal

Sumber : Kompas
30 Juni 2011

Satuan Tugas REDD+ dinilai gagal karena hampir semua keluaran dalam dokumen proyek belum tercapai sepenuhnya. Atas alasan itu, masa kerja satuan tugas tersebut dinilai perlu diperpanjang untuk mengisi masa transisi.

Sesuai dengan Keputusan Presiden Nomor 19 Tahun 2010 tentang Satuan Tugas Persiapan Pembentukan Kelembagaan REDD+ (Pengurangan Emisi dari Deforestasi dan Degradasi Hutan), satgas harus menyelesaikan tugasnya paling lambat 31 Desember 2010 atau dapat diperpanjang hingga 30 Juni 2011.

Di samping membentuk lembaga khusus REDD+, yang mendesak adalah penyelesaian berbagai soal kehutanan. ”Bila belum bisa membentuk lembaga baru, sebaiknya tugas satgas diperpanjang. Itu satu-satunya opsi meneruskan persiapan REDD+. Bila ditarik ke sektoral, akan repot lagi,” kata Koordinator Perubahan Iklim dari HuMa, Bernardus Steni, Senin lalu.

Ketua Departemen Internasional dan Keadilan Iklim Walhi, Teguh Surya, menegaskan, perlunya audit terbuka dan pertanggungjawaban transparan kepada publik tentang kinerja Satgas REDD+. ”Sebelum dibentuk lembaga khusus untuk REDD+, harus ada evaluasi,” ujarnya.

Sembilan bulan Satgas REDD+ bertugas, kata Steni, ada delapan keluaran yang harus dihasilkan lembaga persiapan REDD+. Namun, belum ada dokumen final yang mestinya keluar sesuai dengan dokumen proyek terkait REDD+.

”Banyak yang masih rancangan,” kata Steni. Di antaranya dokumen strategi implementasi dan kerangka kerja monitoring dan evaluasi REDD+. Yang telah ditetapkan, misalnya, penunjukan lokasi percontohan program REDD+ di Kalimantan Tengah.

Steni juga melihat indikasi tidak fokus dalam bekerja. ”Idealnya lembaga itu anggotanya hanya bekerja di situ. Sekarang anggota-anggota satgas adalah birokrat kementerian sektoral sehingga masih terikat kepentingan sektor masing-masing,” ujarnya.

Anggota satgas antara lain Kementerian Kehutanan dan Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup. Hanya ketua satgas dan sekretaris yang bukan birokrat dari kementerian, yaitu Kuntoro Mangkusubroto dan Heru Prasetyo.

Selesaikan masalah

Steni dan Teguh menegaskan, sebelum lembaga khusus REDD+ terbentuk, semua tunggakan masalah kehutanan harus segera diselesaikan. ”Banyak data lahan tumpang tindih karena baseline data tak jelas,” ujar Teguh.

Selain itu, konflik lahan berjumlah ribuan. ”Banyak yang tewas,” ujar Steni.

Tata kelola juga masih parah. ”Status areal penggunaan lain juga banyak bermasalah karena status hukum kawasan tidak jelas sehingga banyak industri yang beroperasi di kawasan abu-abu ini. Ini ibarat cek kosong,” kata Steni. (ISW)

Link : http://nasional.kompas.com/read/2011/06/30/03185438/satgas.reddplus.dinilai.gagal

RI Still Razing Forests Despite Climate Deal

Source : Jakarta Globe
June 30, 2011
By Adianto P. Simamora,

Less than two weeks after a moratorium on forest clearing, Indonesia has lost protected forest the size of Singapore that was awarded to palm oil planters and forest
concession holders, a report by Greenomics Indonesia says. To make matters worse, the shifting status of primary forest is located in Central Kalimantan, which was
appointed a pilot project site — a place other provinces will observe for how to execute President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s order to halt issuing new permits
to raze forests in the country for two years.

Greenomics said Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan was the first official to ignore the President’s order. Zulkifli made a decree, the report said, that converted the
status of 81,490 hectares of conservation area into production forests. The converted forests were in, among others, Tanjung Puting National Park and Sebangau
National Park in Central Kalimantan. “Zulkifli’s decree comes only 11 days after the start of the forest moratorium [by President Yudhoyono],” Greenomics’
executive director Elfian Effendi told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

President Yudhoyono issued a two-year moratorium on new permits both in primary forest and peatland on May 20. Protected forest and conservation areas are
part of primary forests. The 1999 Forestry Law also prohibits the conversion of protected forest and conservation areas for business interests. “The Forestry
Ministry should actually stay on the front line to protect primary forest with or without President Yudhoyono’s decree on the moratorium. Thus, sanctions should be
imposed on violators [of the moratorium] as pledged by [Cabinet Secretary] Dipo Alam,” he said. Central Kalimantan has 1.3 million hectares of protected forests
and 1.5 million hectares of conservation areas.

A map of the forest moratorium sites included all the protected and conservation areas where new permits should be banned. The President’s moratorium is part of
the implementation of the REDD partnership between Indonesia and Norway. Norway pledged US$1 billion to Indonesia to implement a UN plan called Reducing
Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD Plus). “The change of function of protected and conservation forests to become production forests by
[Zulkifli] could damage the credibility of the moratorium decree in the international arena,” he said.

Forestry Ministry spokeperson Masy’hud denied that the minster had changed the status for 81,490 hectares of protected forest and conservation areas. “It is part
of the long-discussed proposal of Central Kalimantan related to the province’s spatial planning. The integrated team consisting of officials from a number of
institutions verified the proposal and submitted its final recommendation to the Forestry Ministry to decide,” he told The Jakarta Post.

“The spatial planning of Central Kalimantan is now still waiting the approval of the House of Representatives.” The President’s special staff on climate change, Agus
Purnomo, promised it would investigate Greenomics’ report. “If Greenomic’s finding is true, there should be a sanction for [violators] of the Presidential decree. But,
if the accusation is false, it is Greenomics itself then should take responsibility for the report,” he told the Post. Agus said he had received the report from
Greenomics.

Link : http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/06/30/ri-still-razing-forests-despite-climate-deal.html

Kampanye Negatif Soal Hutan Perlu Direspons

Source : Bisnis Indonesia 29 Juni 2011 Oleh Rudi Ariffianto Industri pulp dan kertas nasional meminta pemerintah lebih tanggap dalam merespons kampanye negatif yang dilancarkan lembaga swadaya masyarakat terhadap hasil hutan Indonesia yang diduga bermotif persaingan dagang. Ketua Umum Asosiasi … Continue reading →

Challenges For Better Forest Governance

Source : Jakarta Post
June 28, 2011
By Warief Djajanto Basorie

Carbon-dense peatland. Carbon emission reduction. Low-carbon economy. These are key terms in Indonesia’s initiative to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) from deforestation and degradation of forests (REDD). President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has set a 7/26 target: 7 percent annual economic growth and 26 percent reduction of GHG, mainly carbon dioxide, as opposed to a “business-as-usual” scenario, by 2020.

The effort to reach this goal is being helped by a May 20, 2011, presidential instruction to stop the issuance of new permits to convert primary forests and peatlands for two years. In this international year of forests, this is just one tool to arrest and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide in Indonesia’s REDD+ program. On one hand, the moratorium had to take into account the demands of NGOs to put a full stop to all forest exploitation, and on the other it had to be agreeable to commercial interests pushing for a business-as-usual scenario. These interests are businesses in oil palm plantations, mining and agriculture that convert forests and peatlands for use in these sectors.

Putting aside the positions for and against the presidential instruction, the question is what comes next? What action can Indonesia take after the two-year period of the moratorium? How would such action have an impact on local administrations that by law now enjoy autonomy? What hard and fast rules should apply down to local levels for accountable forest governance?

Future policy decisions should consider a January 2011 satellite-based study by researchers from the London School of Economics and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “The Political Economy of Deforestation in the Forests” says the political economy at the local level substantially affects the rate of tropical deforestation in Indonesia.

The 49-page paper reports three main results from a MODIS satellite that tracked annual changes in forest cover over an eight-year period. First, it showed that increasing numbers of political jurisdictions have led to increased deforestation. Second, it showed the existence of “political logging cycles” where illegal logging increases dramatically in the period leading up to local elections. Third, for local government officials, logging and other sources of rent are short-run substitutes. This affect disappears over time as political equilibrium shifts.

The study shows how the economics of corruption can drive natural resource extraction. It concluded that unless Indonesia’s REDD+ program takes into account those local actors who benefit from legal and illegal logging, it is unlikely the initiative will be effective. Agus Purnomo, President Yudhoyono’s special adviser on climate change, responded to the LSE/MIT paper in an article published in Koran Tempo daily on March 8, 2011. The Elections Law should “enhance local elections rules so that qualified and honest candidates can compete with rich or reckless ones who pawn their regions’ natural resources to their financial backers,” he wrote.

Reform in local elections is part of efforts to reduce Indonesia’s carbon emissions from forestry and peatlands. The success in boosting the quality of Indonesia’s democracy can also positively affect the quality of natural resources management, Agus says. According to the Forestry Ministry, Indonesia loses between 1.1 and 2 million hectares of forests and peatlands to deforestation each year. This is equal in size to Bali and Lombok combined. Deforestation is the Indonesia’s main source of carbon emissions.

Deforestation could increase with more decentralization. The enactment of the 1999 Local Governments Law spurred the carving out of new provinces, districts and cities from previously larger provinces, districts and cities (known locally by the term pemekaran). The number of provinces has increased from 27 to 33. Districts and cities have surged from 291 to 498, each with their own autonomy.

In Indonesia’s REDD+ program, in line with the US$1 billion partnership signed with Norway in 2010, the government is formulating a REDD+ national strategy, setting up an executive agency and forming an independent monitoring unit. The President should also consider drafting a new presidential instruction and an amendment to the law. First, it should include a moratorium on regional division or pemekaran. Second it should reform local electoral policy to improve the quality of democracy and reduce deforestation. The writer teaches journalism at the Dr Soetomo Press Institute (LPDS) in Jakarta.

Link : http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/06/28/challenges-better-forest-governance.html

France’s Fillon To Meet SBY To Boost Bilateral Cooperation

Source : Jakarta Post
June 28, 2011
By Mustaqim Adamrah

French Prime Minister François Fillon is scheduled to come to Indonesia for a state visit following Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s state visit to Paris in 2009.

Fillion will visit in lieu of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was previously expected to come to Indonesia. Teuku Faizasyah, the President’s spokesman for international affairs, said on Monday that Fillon was scheduled to arrive in Jakarta on Thursday and to return to France on Saturday.

Fillon was expected to go to Kalibata Heroes Cemetery, meet Yudhoyono and attend a dinner banquet on July 1, he said.

“[Fillon] and the President will discuss… a strategic partnership agreement in numerous fields, with the main focus on strategic industries, trade and investment, including investment on the infrastructure sector through the MP3EI,” he said, adding that Yudhoyono and Fillon were expected to sign the partnership during the visit.

The pair were also expected to ink bilateral agreements on education and tourism promotions, according to Faizasyah.

The so-called “Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic Growth” (MP3EI) was launched by the President before hundreds of high-ranking officials and business executives in May.

The plan, which critics say overlaps with similar programs, offers 17 new infrastructure projects worth Rp 190 trillion (US$22.04 billion), including developing nationwide broadband Internet access, hydropower and solar power plants, modern steel mills, a palm oil industry zone, access roads, toll roads, airports, dams, reservoirs, as well as nickel, cobalt and aluminium facilities throughout economic corridors in Sumatra, Java and West Nusa Tenggara-Bali and Maluku-Papua.

Faizasyah said Fillon would also explore a possibility to help Indonesia conserve its environment and implement REDD (reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation) Plus programs.

REDD+ programs include tree planting initiatives intended to increase the absorption of carbon and slow global warming, according to the United Nations.

On May 26, 2010, the Indonesian and Norwegian governments signed a moratorium agreement under the REDD+ scheme requiring Indonesia to stop converting natural forests and peatlands for commercial purposes for two years. In return, Norway would provide compensation of $1 billion.

The Foreign Ministry’s American and European affairs director – general, Retno Marsudi, said Yudhoyono and Fillon would also discuss Indonesia’s current chairmanship of ASEAN and the upcoming G20 Summit in Cannes, France, on Nov. 3-4.

There will also be a meeting between French and Indonesian businesspeople as Fillon will be leading around 29 French business people from various sectors, according to Retno.

Link : http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/06/28/france%E2%80%99s-fillon-meet-sby-boost-bilateral-cooperation.html

Challenges For Better Forest Governance

Source : The Jakarta Post
June 28, 2011
By Warief Djajanto Basorie

Carbon-dense peatland. Carbon emission reduction. Low-carbon economy. These are key terms in Indonesia’s initiative to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) from deforestation and degradation of forests (REDD).

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has set a 7/26 target: 7 percent annual economic growth and 26 percent reduction of GHG, mainly carbon dioxide, as opposed to a “business-as-usual” scenario, by 2020.

The effort to reach this goal is being helped by a May 20, 2011, presidential instruction to stop the issuance of new permits to convert primary forests and peatlands for two years. In this international year of forests, this is just one tool to arrest and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide in Indonesia’s REDD+ program.

On one hand, the moratorium had to take into account the demands of NGOs to put a full stop to all forest exploitation, and on the other it had to be agreeable to commercial interests pushing for a business-as-usual scenario. These interests are businesses in oil palm plantations, mining and agriculture that convert forests and peatlands for use in these sectors.

Putting aside the positions for and against the presidential instruction, the question is what comes next? What action can Indonesia take after the two-year period of the moratorium? How would such action have an impact on local administrations that by law now enjoy autonomy? What hard and fast rules should apply down to local levels for accountable forest governance?

Future policy decisions should consider a January 2011 satellite-based study by researchers from the London School of Economics and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “The Political Economy of Deforestation in the Forests” says the political economy at the local level substantially affects the rate of tropical deforestation in Indonesia.

The 49-page paper reports three main results from a MODIS satellite that tracked annual changes in forest cover over an eight-year period.

First, it showed that increasing numbers of political jurisdictions have led to increased deforestation. Second, it showed the existence of “political logging cycles” where illegal logging increases dramatically in the period leading up to local elections.

Third, for local government officials, logging and other sources of rent are short-run substitutes. This affect disappears over time as political equilibrium shifts.

The study shows how the economics of corruption can drive natural resource extraction. It concluded that unless Indonesia’s REDD+ program takes into account those local actors who benefit from legal and illegal logging, it is unlikely the initiative will be effective.

Agus Purnomo, President Yudhoyono’s special adviser on climate change, responded to the LSE/MIT paper in an article published in Koran Tempo daily on March 8, 2011. The Elections Law should “enhance local elections rules so that qualified and honest candidates can compete with rich or reckless ones who pawn their regions’ natural resources to their financial backers,” he wrote.

Reform in local elections is part of efforts to reduce Indonesia’s carbon emissions from forestry and peatlands. The success in boosting the quality of Indonesia’s democracy can also positively affect the quality of natural resources management, Agus says.

According to the Forestry Ministry, Indonesia loses between 1.1 and 2 million hectares of forests and peatlands to deforestation each year. This is equal in size to Bali and Lombok combined. Deforestation is the Indonesia’s main source of carbon emissions.

Deforestation could increase with more decentralization. The enactment of the 1999 Local Governments Law spurred the carving out of new provinces, districts and cities from previously larger provinces, districts and cities (known locally by the term pemekaran).

The number of provinces has increased from 27 to 33. Districts and cities have surged from 291 to 498, each with their own autonomy.

In Indonesia’s REDD+ program, in line with the US$1 billion partnership signed with Norway in 2010, the government is formulating a REDD+ national strategy, setting up an executive agency and forming an independent monitoring unit.

The President should also consider drafting a new presidential instruction and an amendment to the law.

First, it should include a moratorium on regional division or pemekaran. Second it should reform local electoral policy to improve the quality of democracy and reduce deforestation.

The writer teaches journalism at the Dr Soetomo Press Institute (LPDS) in Jakarta.

Link :http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/06/28/challenges-better-forest-governance.html

PERNYATAAN SIKAP BERSAMA Solidaritas Perempuan, CAPPA, YPD dan Ulu Foundation Keprihatinan terhadap Hibah FCPF Bank Dunia yang abaikan kepentingan masyarakat

Jakarta, 27 Juni 2011

By Ina Nisrina

Heboh peluncuran FCPF menyembunyikan begitu banyak persoalan yang terkandung dalam proses dan substansi hibah itu sendiri.  

PERNYATAAN SIKAP BERSAMA

Solidaritas Perempuan, CAPPA, YPD dan Ulu Foundation
Keprihatinan terhadap Hibah FCPF Bank Dunia  yang abaikan kepentingan masyarakat
Jakarta, 23 Juni 2011

Hari ini, tanggal 23 Juni 2011 Kementerian Kehutanan merayakan perolehan hibah Bank Dunia dalam kerja sama Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) untuk kegiatan REDD+ Readiness Preparation Support sebesar US$ 3,6 juta. Lokakarya Peluncuran FCPF tersebut dilakukan dengan mengundang  berbagai kalangan  mulai dari para duta besar, wakil-wakil kementrian terkait dan Kementerian Kehutanan, lembaga keuangan dan donor, dan juga wakil-wakil LSM dalam dan luar negri. Lokakarya bertujuan untuk memberikan informasi dan juga memperoleh masukan untuk pelaksanaan kerja sama tersebut. Keseriusan memperoleh masukan dalam lokakarya ini, patut dipertanyakan. Sebab, undangan dikirimkan hanya 3 hari sebelum lokakarya,  dan tidak ada dokumen yang dibagikan untuk dipelajari sebelumnya.

Heboh peluncuran FCPF menyembunyikan begitu banyak persoalan yang terkandung dalam proses dan substansi hibah itu sendiri.

Hibah ini mengabaikan penyebab utama persoalan hutan di Indonesia, yaitu klaim negara atas tanah dan hutan milik masyarakat adat dan setempat. REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) masuk ke wilayah yang sampai saat ini sarat konflik kepentingan. Masyarakat yang hidupnya bergantung pada hutan sampai saat ini terus berhadapan dengan korupsi, tidak ada kepastian dan pelaksanaan hukum, penindasan kelompok elit politik dan ekonomi yang memanfaatkan aparat militer dan para-militer. Persoalan yang berkaitan dengan deforestasi dan degradasi hutan bukanlah merupakan persoalan yang berkaitan dengan urusan pohon-pohon saja dan konservasi pohon; melainkan lebih dari itu, merupakan persoalan masyarakat yang hak milik dan hak hidupnya dirampas.

Hibah Bank Dunia mengabaikan realitas bahwa pelanggaran hak azasi manusia terjadi akibat perampasan ini. Pengabaikan ini hanya akan meningkatkan masalah yang dihadapi oleh masyarakat yang kehidupannya bergantung pada hutan di Indonesia, secara kultural, sosial, ekonomi dan politik.

Pengabaikan ini terlihat dari proses yang buruk dalam memperoleh persetujuan dari masyarakat, termasuk perempuan; kegagalan dalam melihat kebutuhan mendesak penerapan aturan yang mampu melindungi masyarakat dalam proses persiapan dan tahap uji coba; kegagalan untuk belajar dari proyek-proyek uji coba yang sudah menimbulkan konflik dengan masyarakat; dan pengabaikan kepentingan perempuan untuk ikut dalam mengambil keputusan.

Keprihatinan terhadap proses yang buruk dalam memperoleh persetujuan dari masyarakat, termasuk perempuan

Hibah Bank Dunia banyak menggumbar janji berkaitan dengan partisipasi dan konsultasi masyarakat. Namun realitasnya, proses undangan peluncuran pun tidak memenuhi standar dasar partisipasi dan transparansi.

Rencana konsultasi publik FCPF yang akan dipaparkan dalam Lokakarya Peluncuran, tidak dibangun secara transparan dan partisipatif, melainkan dilakukan secara sepihak oleh Dewan Kehutanan Nasional dan Bank Dunia.  Padahal hibah mengklaim bahwa  konsultasi akan mengikutsertakan masukan dari masyarakat adat dengan menggunakan prinsip ‘free, prior and informed consultation leading to broad community support’ (konsultasi yang bebas/tanpa tekanan dengan informasi yang diberikan sebelumnya sehingga bisa memperoleh dukungan masyarakat secara luas).

Berdasarkan prinsip ini seharusnya rencana konsultasi publik dibangun oleh masyarakat adat dan masyarakat yang bergantung pada hutan sebagai pemangku kepentingan utama dalam persoalan ini. Banyak hal yang masih perlu dijawab oleh Kementrian Kehutanan dan Bank Dunia berkaitan dengan hal partisipasi dan konsultasi, misalnya:

Bagaimana aplikasi UNDRIP (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) yang berbicara mengenai ‘consent’ (persetujuan) dan bukan ‘consultation’ (konsultasi)?

Siapa yang membangun strategi untuk konsultasi dengan masyarakat yang kehidupannya bergantung pada hutan? Sejauh mana mereka dilibatkan dalam perencanaan konsultasi?

Siapa yang menentukan perwakilan dari masyarakat yang bergantung pada hutan, untuk terlibat dalam konsultasi-konsultasi tersebut?

Bagaimana membangun proses konsultasi dan melakukan konsultasi yang bebas dan tanpa paksaan, dengan informasi yang jelas dan benar, mengingat maraknya konflik dan pelanggaran HAM yang terjadi akibat perampasan tanah, hutan dan sumber-sumber kehidupan lainnya yang selama ini dialami oleh masyarakat yang bergantung pada hutan?

Keprihatinan terhadap pengabaian penerapan aturan perlindungan

Hibah ini tidak menerapkan aturan perlindungan dalam proses persetujuannya  oleh Bank Dunia dengan alasan bahwa hibah tidak untuk membiayai proyek REDD+ sehingga tidak ada dampak langsung dari hibah ini. Padahal,  hibah ini antara lain  memberikan arah investasi REDD+ di Indonesia dan opsi-opsi bagi hasil. Tanpa adanya sebuah penilaian sejauh mana dampak dari arahan ini terhadap keberlanjutan lingkungan dan kehidupan ekonomi, sosial, politik dan kultural masyarakat, maka hasil yang dicapai melalui hibah ini juga mencerminkan pengabaian terhadap situasi masyarakat tersebut.

Pengabaikan aturan perlindungan juga dibenarkan oleh hibah Bank Dunia ini dalam arahan pelaksanaan proyek hibah ini, misalnya:

Tidak perlu mengembangkan Rencana Pengembangan Masyarakat Adat secara khusus karena aspek ini sudah diintegrasikan ke berbagai kegiatan dalam hibah ini.  Apabila hal ini diabaikan, jelas kepentingan-kepentingan masyarakat adat tidak akan secara khusus diperhatikan.

Dokumen proyek hibah menyatakan bahwa tidak akan ada penggusuran sebagai bagian dari kegiatan REDD+. Jelas hal ini mengundang persoalan di masa depan karena dua hal: (1) kegiatan di sektor kehutanan dan konservasi banyak menimbulkan penggusuran mereka yang hidupnya bergantung pada hutan; (2) apabila diperkirakan tidak akan terjadi penggusuran, maka harusnya sudah menjadi ketentuan dalam kegiatan REDD+ bahwa tidak boleh terjadi penggusuran.  Sebaliknya, kerangka kebijakan yang ada dalam hibah di lain pihak menyatakan bahwa penggusuran akan berusaha dihindari sebisa mungkin. Ini merupakan sebuah ketentuan yang lemah dan bisa melegitimasi penggusuran masyarakat dari wilayah hutan.

 Keprihatinan terhadap pengabaian kepentingan perempuan untuk ikut dalam mengambil keputusan.

Dalam dokumen hibah FCPF untuk Indonesia (ISDS, 02/25/2011) tidak secara eksplisit diatur mengenai pelibatan perempuan dalam proses-proses pengambilan keputusan:

• Dalam studi penyusunan TOR, ketentuan –ketentuan yang mengikuti ketentuan Bank Dunia pada penilaian lingkungan, habitat alam, sumber daya dan budaya fisik, pemukiman kembali, dan masyarakat adat  saja; sementara aspek gender tidak dilakukan/direncanakan.
• Masukan para pemangku kepentingan dan masyarakat adat diharapkan dalam proses konsultasi, tetapi tidak dipertimbangkan perlunya masukan dari perempuan
• Kerangka acuan SESA (Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment) tidak memastikan keterlibatan perempuan  dalam keseluruhan diskusi terkait dengan hal-hal yang mempengaruhi kehidupan mereka, misalnya mekanisme berbagi pendapatan/keuntungan. Seharusnya diskusi yang dibangun tidak hanya terkait dengan mekanisme pendapatan/keuntungan, tetapi juga terkait dampak yang akan merugikan kehidupan mereka.
• Kerangka Kerja ESMF (Environmental and Social management Framework) akan memberikan pertimbangan terhadap sumber kehidupan dan hak, termasuk hak masyarakat adat, dan seterusnya. Namun, tidak ada pertimbangan dan perhatian terhadap hak – hak perempuan.

 

Kontak Person:  

Puspa Dewy  : 0852 6024 1597  pdewy@solidaritasperempuan.org

Rivani Noor  :  0812 7414 5333  rivani@cappa.or.id

Link: http://csoforum.net/media-release/kertas-posisi/366-keprihatinan-terhadap-hibah-fcpf-bank-dunia-yang-abaikan-kepentingan-masyarakat.html

 

Indigenous groups call for halt to REDD pilot project

June 25, 2011

By Adianto P. Simamora

Indigenous communities in Central Kalimantan are calling on the government to stop a pilot project to alleviate the destruction of forests amid fears that it would prompt conflicts between local communities.

People living in and around forested areas in the province said they were not adequately informed about the plan and thus confused about Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation or REDD Plus.

The Indigenous People’s Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN) said some local communities living near forests learned that the REDD Plus pilot project in the area would possibly conflict with their ability to access customary forests. Another group welcomed the project, hoping it would bring in money.

AMAN secretary-general Abdon Nababan told The Jakarta Post that in order to respond to the differing opinions on REDD Plus, various
indigenous groups from 11 regen-cies in Central Kalimantan held a meeting.

They agreed that the government must halt the REDD Plus pilot project in the province until it provided adequate information about the project to local communities.

“Free, prior and informed consent as the main principle of REDD has been completely ignored,” AMAN Central Kalimantan chapter head Wisma Soverdi said.

AMAN submitted its letter on the proposed REDD moratorium in Central Kalimantan to Presi-
dent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the presidential task force on REDD and the Forestry Ministry, among others.

AMAN, the country’s largest indigenous people’s group, has 1,163 communities as members that occupy 7.5 million hectares of land across the country.

The government selected Central Kalimantan as a pilot area for a two-year REDD Plus plan funded
in cooperation with Norway’s government.

As a pilot project, the Central Kalimantan administration has to halt issuing new permits to convert
primary forests and peatland for business purposes.

Since then, Central Kalimantan has been in the global spotlight, attracting new investors to develop forest-related projects such as REDD and ecosystem restoration.

A number of foreign countries such as Australia and Norway have invested in REDD projects in the province. International organizations like the Clinton Foundation, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Care International, Flora and Fauna International (FFI) and the Wetland and Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS) also developed projects there.

On a recent field trip to Central Kalimantan, the Post found that residents of Pulau Pisang village in the province’s capital of Palangkaraya had no idea about REDD. When they were told by village leaders to bring handicrafts, they thought it would be for a cultural bazaar, not the REDD project.

Link: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/06/25/indigenous-groups-call-halt-redd-pilot-project.html

Alleged moratorium breach becomes test for RSPO

Source: Mongabay

June 24, 2011

PT Menteng’s alleged breach of Indonesia’s forest moratorium. The red areas are off-limits to new concessions.

 

An alleged breach of Indonesia’s new moratorium on primary forest and peatlands conversion may prove a test for the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an eco-certification initiative.

A report published last week alleges that PT Menteng Jaya Sawit Perdana (PT Menteng), an Indonesian subsidiary of Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bernard (KLK), cleared peat forest near Sampit in Indonesia’s Central Kalimantan province without securing proper licenses. According to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Telapak, which conducted the investigation, PT Menteng had only a Location Permit, not the Plantation Business Permit required under Indonesian plantation law or a permit from the Ministry of Forestry releasing the 7,400-ha (18,300-acre) concession.

The accusation is significant because it represents both a breach of Indonesia’s moratorium under its REDD+ program and a violation of RSPO’s code of conduct, which requires members to abide by national laws and avoid clearance of high conservation value habitats. KLK is an RSPO member.

The Rainforest Action Network (RAN), an activist group campaigning against forest conversion for oil palm plantations, says the report’s finding is a liability for companies that source from KLK. RAN singled out Cargill, which has imported at least 10,000 tons of palm oil from Kepong Edible Oils, a subsidiary of KLK, over the past two-and-a-half years. A separate RAN investigation found questionable labor practices by a KLK subsidiary.

Oil palm plantation in the PT Menteng area. Peatlands clearance in the PT Menteng area. Images courtesy of EIA/Telapak

“RAN has video recorded interviews, from November of 2010, with two villagers from Northern Sumatra who recount nearly identical stories of being lured by representatives of a KLK subsidiary to work in the company’s palm plantations, only to be forced into slave labor conditions for months,” said the group in a statement.

“This revelation that Cargill sells KLK palm oil reinforces RAN’s demand that Cargill institute basic safeguards on its supply chain to ensure it is not selling palm oil tainted with slave labor to unwitting American consumers,” said Lindsey Allen, forest program director for RAN. “Until Cargill commits to global safeguards that exclude egregious palm oil suppliers, it cannot guarantee to American consumers that slave labor is not ending up on store shelves and in household pantries.”

“Cargill is buying its oil from companies connected to some of the very worst examples of corporate environmental destruction and human rights abuses. This is yet another of many examples RAN has identified in our three years of campaigning on Cargill that demonstrates the immediate need for the company to adopt a comprehensive palm oil policy.”

Cargill told mongabay.com that it is aware of the accusations in the EIA/Telapak report and is “reaching out to KLK to discuss these allegations.”

“We are concerned by these allegations and will continue to actively monitor the situation,” a Cargill spokesperson told mongabay.com.

But Cargill put the onus for action on the RSPO.

“KLK is a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. The RSPO requires its members to act in a sustainable manner and meet the RSPO’s code of conduct,” said the spokesperson. “We fully support the RSPO and agree that allegations of unsustainable practices should be brought to the RSPO to review through its official grievance process. The RSPO grievance panel consists of stakeholders in the palm oil supply chain, including NGOs.”

“Cargill is on record that we will abide by the decisions of the RSPO grievance process.”

The Indonesian government has said it will investigate the charges in the EIA/Telapak report.

The RSPO

RSPO was formed in 2004 as a response to concerns that palm oil production has driven large-scale destruction of rainforests across southeast Asia over the past two decades. RSPO has created a set of criteria to make palm oil production less damaging to the environment and local communities. These include using natural pests and composting in place of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers whenever possible, implementing no burn policies, sparing high conservation value forests from development, taking measures to reduce air pollution, and creating catchment ponds to prevent palm oil mill effluent from entering waterways where it would damage aquatic habitats. The hope is that CSPO can be sold at a premium to recoup the increased costs that certification entails.

RSPO has at times been criticized for being slow to act when members are found to be operating in violation of productions standards, but the body has recently rebuked IOI Group, a Malaysian producer, and Golden Agri Resources (GAR), a Singapore-based firm, for social and environmental transgressions. GAR has since taken steps to come back into compliance, including establishing a forest policy that is among the strictest of any palm oil major.

Link: http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0623-rspo_breach_klk.html

 

WB donates $3.6m to reduce carbon

June 24, 2011

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s Forestry Ministry has received a US$3.6 million grant from the World Bank to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent by 2020 while maintaining economic growth, according to the World Bank.

The funds have been granted through the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility to Indonesia’s Forestry Ministry to analyze causes of deforestation, consult and reach out to stakeholders and build the capacity of institutions and stakeholders involved in implementing the reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) protocols.

“Indonesia is among the first of the forested, tropical countries to receive support from the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, showing that it is committed to meeting its target of reducing greenhouse gases – especially from deforestation and forest degradation,” Stefan Koeberle, the World Bank director for Indonesia, said in a press statement released on Thursday.

Forest Carbon Partnership Facility donors include the Agence Française de Développement (France), Australia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

“What happens with Indonesia’s forests will be critical for the future of global REDD efforts and forest carbon markets. Indonesia is already leading the way and setting an example for other countries to follow,” Koeberle added. — JP

Link: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/06/24/wb-donates-36m-reduce-carbon.html