Labuan Bajo (Greeners) – Following lack of awareness and implementation of mandatory wood legal certification, locally known as SVLK, a focus group discussion designed to speed up the information was held in West Manggarai district of East Nusa Tenggara, said head of West Manggarai district, Agustinus C Dula, on an official statement, in Tuesday (20/3).

“[This] FGD will be the first point to strengthen wood industry in West Manggarai as the district has large wood potentials. The market can go smoothly if they are legalized and certified,” said Dula. “This is a the first step as the system has yet to be implemented in West Manggarai.”

The FGD is part of capacity building from non-government agencies, initiated by Bird Life International under funding by European Union and held in four countries, — Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Papua New Guinea.

READ ALSO: SVLK Boosts Indonesia’s Wood Export to 10.94 Billion Dollar

Forest Programme Coordinator of Burung Indonesia, Asep Ayat said that SVLK was aiming to prevent illegal logging practices, improve forest sustainability, and increase selling value and livelihood. If they’re certified, said Ayat, access for wood products, such as furniture will be extensive.

“Currently, SVLK implementation has yet to be introduced to Indonesia’s eastern parts, for instance West Manggarai of East Nusa Tenggara. Teak farmers in the district has yet to organized its wood products, it can be seen from the price. They only sell for Rp500,000 per tree while other regions can tag for one to two million rupiah per tree,” he said.

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Meanwhile, Director of Forest Product Management and Marketing, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Rufiie, said that Indonesia’s SVLK has been accepted by European Nations as they only received legal wood. Hence, wood potential in West Manggarai has the opportunity to become high value commodity under the certification process.

Based on data by Ministry of Environment and Forestry, at least 22 million hectares of forest areas and 3,168 industries were certified. In addition, 250 certifications issued for title forests with a total of 716,784 hectares by October 2017.

Penulis: Dewi Purningsih

Jakarta (Greeners) – As oil palm transform into strategic commodity in Indonesia’s economics, its management still presented a list of problems, starting from weak permit mechanism, monitoring and controlling lead to the sector prone to corruption, said a law expert in Jakarta, on Thursday (15/6).

Hifdzil Alim, a law expert, said that Anti Corruption Commission (KPK)’s review on oil palm industry back in 2016 revealed there was no integrated management on oil palm plantation and industry.

The current situation, Alim added, did not meet sustainable development requirements which only lead to corruption in the sector.

READ ALSO: Indonesia to Issue Presidential Instruction on Oil Palm Moratorium

From upstream, he said control system in permit issuance has yet to be accountable to ensure business’ compliance. It is shown, at least, from the absence of spatial planning based permit management. In addition, there is no one map policy scheme in issuing permits.

“Meanwhile, downstream, export’s charges control is not effective as there’s no verification system. The use for oil palm fund from Oil Palm Plantation Management Board runs out only for biodiesel subsidy,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Board since established in 2015 was tasked to manage oil palm plantation and use the funds for replanting, human resources capacity building, advocacy and research, research and development of plantation, promotion, plantation rejuvenation, and develops facilities for plantation.

“However, in practice, majority of the fund is used only for biodiesel subsidy,” he said.

READ ALSO: Environmental Watchdogs Urges Government to Issue Regulation on Oil Palm Ban

Oil Palm Farmers Union Coordinator, Mansuetus Darto, said that the Board contribution to research and development, especially capacity building for oil palm farmers, have been lacking compare to subsidy for biofuels or biodiesel.

The Board, said Darto, had spent Rp 10.6 trillion for biodiesel subsidy in 2016, or equals to 91 percent of total budget collected in the same year. Meanwhile, government regulation stated that subsidy was not main task and aim of the Oil Palm Board.

He said that 2014 Government Regulation stipulated percentage for renewable energy in national energy mix for 23 percent by 2025 and 31 percent by 2050. However, it does not mean that all funding for subsidy comes from the Oil Palm Board.

Furthermore, he said that the Board should return to its task to develop sustainable oil palm with planning and fund allocation monitoring through intermediary institution or involving association/union, central/local government, academician and NGOs.

“Next step, oil palm fund must be audited every year by public accountant and reported to public through mass media. The cooperation between The Oil Palm Board and KPK also needs to be implemented to prevent corruption on oil palm fund and better management of plantation and oil palm industry,” he said.

Report by Danny Kosasih.