Jakarta (Greeners) – To tackle on deforestation issue in the country, governors of six provinces which account for 58 percent of Indonesia’s forest areas, held a meeting with donors, embassies and private sectors, in Jakarta, on Thursday. The meeting was a follow up on their previous commitment, Rio Branco Declaration, signed at the Governor’s Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF) in Acre, Brazil, back in 2014.
One issue being discussed in the meeting was about Forest Management Unit (KPH) capacity building.
Revised Regional Autonomy Law had stipulated more authority for provincial government to manage and protect forest areas through KPH.
West Kalimantan Governor Cornelis, who is also Coordinator of GCF Indnesia, said KPH has the authority in managing forest areas, encourage investment in forestry sector as well as public participation. However, to ensure the effectiveness of KPH, provincial governments need support.
Under Rio Branco Declaration, these six governors agreed to reduce deforestation up to 80 percent by 2020 or from 323,749 hectares to 64,749 hectares per year based on 2001-09 baseline.
To achieve the target, it requires funding based performance that is sufficient and long term through partnerships with international donors and private sectors.
“Today, we are celebrating the partnerships and also keep looking for new ones to achieve our targets on deforestation. This partnerships is a significant step to achieve those targets,” said Cornelis as quoted in a press statement.
Furthermore, the governors also talked about collaboration and partnerships with public and private sectors, including partnerships between Central Kalimantan, Seruya district and West Kotawaringin administrations with oil companies to support capacity building, mapping, and certifying the farmers.
It is expected that mapping out all oil palm farmers in Seruyan and West Kotawarining would e finalised within a few years.
In addition, the partnership also encourages farmers to produce sustainable oil palm based on the standards of Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO).
“The meeting also discuss the development of each governor in tackling forest fires and haze issues which have hit the country last year. West Kalimantan collaborating with Association of Forestry Scholars will develop web basws application as early warning system for forest fires. It will increase local government capacity to deal with forest fires,” he said.
More than 25 percent of tropical forest countries are members of GCF. At least 29 nations, including Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Peru, Spanyol, and US and six governors, — Aceh, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, West Papua, and Papua, in Indonesia signed Rio Branco Declaration in Brazil on Aug 2014.
Reports by Danny Kosasih
21 Apr 2024 
