Press release - July 26, 2017
JAKARTA, 25 July 2017 – The new Presidential Instruction on Delays and Completion of New Permit for Primary Forest and Peatland shows no improvement in law enforcement and will not address Indonesia’s international climate commitments.
Greenpeace Indonesia Forest Campaigner Ratri Kusumohartono said:
“We understand President Jokowi ‘s intention to promote business in Indonesia as he emphasized yesterday during the Plenary Cabinet meeting, but measures to protect forests and stop forest fires should be equally important to his administration”.
“This new moratorium comes in two months late and does not address the weaknesses in the previous version, and still has not provided strong protection to Indonesian forests and peatland . There is no official report that probes progress has been accomplished after six years of successive moratorium instructions implemented by different government bodies. Transparency procedures are critical for informed decision-making, key elements for monitoring of public actions, and crucial for holding companies accountable”.
A review issued in May 2017 by a coalition of NGOs, including Greenpeace, JKPP, Forest Watch Indonesia, Epistema, and Kaoem Telapak, shows that at least 2.7 million hectares of primary natural forest and peatland - five times the size of Bali- disappeared from the moratorium maps during the last six years of implementation of the last Moratorium policy. [1]
“Encouraging business over forests protection is bad deal for Indonesia. Several hot spots have already been identified this year and it’s been already proven that the lack of law enforcement could end in an humanitarian catastrophe and huge economic loss to the country, as we experienced during the tragic events of 2015 that cost lives and billions to the economy”
During 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, President Joko Widodo made public and international commitments to reduce its emissions as well as taking concrete actions towards peatland restoration and reviewing permits and moratoriums.
“International commitments must be respected if we want to drive serious and responsible investment to our country. Unfortunately, the current regulations can’t guarantee this”.
Notes to editor:
[1] http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/Press-Centre/Press-Releases/Six-Years-of-Moratorium/
Contact:
- Ratri Kusumohartono, Greenpeace Indonesia Forest Campaigner, Tel +628118003717
- Sol Gosetti, International communication for Greenpeace Indonesia Forest Campaign, +447807352020, email
