Forestry Moratorium: Government Prepared Second Revision | KOMPAS

as published in KOMPAS, May 21 2012

Jakarta, KOMPAS – The Government will announce the second revision of the moratorium map on Monday (21/5). The revision combined all data from different agencies.

“We are in coordination with the Coordination Agency of National Survey and Mapping, National Land Agency and Ministry of Agriculture in the compilation of this revision. We collected issued permits and licenses before the Presidential Instruction was published,” said Bambang Soepijanto, Director of Urban Design of the Ministry of Forestry on Saturday (19/5) in Jakarta.

This revision is a mandate of the Presidential Instruction No. 10/2011 on the Moratorium on New Permits and Improvement of Primary Natural and Peat Forest signed by President SBY in May 2011.

The areas in the moratorium maps changes in numbers. When all data are collected and mapped, Bambang continued, the areas of primary natural and peat forest, on which no existing permit, will be identified.

Separately, the Head of the Moratorium Monitoring Working Group of the Task Force REDD+, Tjokorda Nirarta Samadhi, said that the map has initially only used data from the Ministry of Forestry. In November 2011, through the inclusion of data from other agencies, the first revision of the moratorium map was established.

According to Nirarta, each point of changes within the second revision would be marked with description on how it has changed. “So it will be traceable, why it has changed and based on what, e.g. permit of what number for the particular area,” he said.

Condition of Peatlands

The second revision would include data from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. The second revision would reduce the amount of peatlands of 49,000 ha based on various land use scheme. Ground verification identified an increase on the amount of protected/conservation areas of 500,000 ha.

Nirarta requested the public for not to stick on numbers, since the numbers can change based on the synchronisation and on cross checking between ministries.

“Don’t just look at the numbers but at the process of the compilation of the numbers. Through this moratorium map, each ministry is connected and communicate to each other even by heavy argument and hard discussion. I expect that here there is a standard procedure for the issuance of permits,” he said.

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