POLICY
JAKARTA (FORESTHINTS.NEWS) - Identified potential high conservation value forests, including those with high carbon stock, still cover an area of 1.26 million hectares, equal to more than 17 times the size of Singapore, within existing palm oil concessions across Papua and West Papua provinces.
This was disclosed in a recently-published report by Indonesia's Ministry of Environment and Forestry, as reported by FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Feb 17).
The Governors of Papua and West Papua possess the legal authority to evaluate areas with good forest cover within existing palm oil concessions, which can then be proposed to be returned to the ministry as state forest areas - from their current status as non-state forest areas - so as to prevent potential deforestation for palm oil expansion.
However, according to the ministry report, by the time of its release in mid-February, no such proposals had been forthcoming from either of the governors.
This is despite the fact that, as detailed in its report, the ministry has identified 1.26 million hectares of natural forests, including high carbon stock areas, which remains standing in Papua and West Papua, an area double the size of Bali.
The Sentinel Hub images below are examples of areas that retain good forest cover in existing palm oil concessions in Papua and West Papua, where the releases of state forest areas earmarked for palm oil plantation development were legally preceded by location permits and letters of recommendation from the respective local governments.
The images above, obtained from spatial analyses by the ministry, demonstrate the ongoing monitoring efforts that have been carried out in a time-series manner since President Joko Widodo signed the moratorium on palm oil expansion in areas with good forest cover in September 2018.
The ministry also conducted a ground check after President Widodo ordered a palm oil expansion moratorium in areas with good forest cover lying in existing palm oil concessions, especially in Papua and West Papua.
The following photos are part of the results of these ground observations of potential high conservation value forests, which include high carbon stock areas, in one of the existing palm oil concessions in West Papua.
Still almost zero deforestation
Previously, the ministry had released the results of its spatial monitoring of all areas with good forest cover in existing palm oil concessions in Papua and West Papua, which coincided with the two-year implementation of the President's order for the palm oil expansion moratorium, as reported by FORESTHINTS.NEWS at the end of October 2020.
The results of monitoring until the end of September/early October 2020 showed that of the 1.26 million hectares with good forest cover within the existing palm oil concessions in the two provinces, only 0.2% have been deforested.
The latest update from the ministry, as outlined in its recent report, makes it clear that almost zero deforestation occurred in these 1.26 million hectares from late September/early October 2020 to late January/early February 2021.
To reiterate, by the time the ministry's report was made public last week (Feb 15), not a single proposal from either the governor of Papua or West Papua – for the return of areas with good forest cover in existing palm oil concessions to become state forest areas - had been received by the ministry.
Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya - as she has emphasized several times before - continues to confirm that identified high conservation value forests, which include high carbon stock areas, serve as a technical basis for developing possible conservation forests in existing palm oil concessions in the two provinces.
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POLICY
JAKARTA (FORESTHINTS.NEWS) - Identified potential high conservation value forests, including those with high carbon stock, still cover an area of 1.26 million hectares, equal to more than 17 times the size of Singapore, within existing palm oil concessions across Papua and West Papua provinces.
This was disclosed in a recently-published report by Indonesia's Ministry of Environment and Forestry, as reported by FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Feb 17).
The Governors of Papua and West Papua possess the legal authority to evaluate areas with good forest cover within existing palm oil concessions, which can then be proposed to be returned to the ministry as state forest areas - from their current status as non-state forest areas - so as to prevent potential deforestation for palm oil expansion.
However, according to the ministry report, by the time of its release in mid-February, no such proposals had been forthcoming from either of the governors.
This is despite the fact that, as detailed in its report, the ministry has identified 1.26 million hectares of natural forests, including high carbon stock areas, which remains standing in Papua and West Papua, an area double the size of Bali.
The Sentinel Hub images below are examples of areas that retain good forest cover in existing palm oil concessions in Papua and West Papua, where the releases of state forest areas earmarked for palm oil plantation development were legally preceded by location permits and letters of recommendation from the respective local governments.
The images above, obtained from spatial analyses by the ministry, demonstrate the ongoing monitoring efforts that have been carried out in a time-series manner since President Joko Widodo signed the moratorium on palm oil expansion in areas with good forest cover in September 2018.
The ministry also conducted a ground check after President Widodo ordered a palm oil expansion moratorium in areas with good forest cover lying in existing palm oil concessions, especially in Papua and West Papua.
The following photos are part of the results of these ground observations of potential high conservation value forests, which include high carbon stock areas, in one of the existing palm oil concessions in West Papua.
Still almost zero deforestation
Previously, the ministry had released the results of its spatial monitoring of all areas with good forest cover in existing palm oil concessions in Papua and West Papua, which coincided with the two-year implementation of the President's order for the palm oil expansion moratorium, as reported by FORESTHINTS.NEWS at the end of October 2020.
The results of monitoring until the end of September/early October 2020 showed that of the 1.26 million hectares with good forest cover within the existing palm oil concessions in the two provinces, only 0.2% have been deforested.
The latest update from the ministry, as outlined in its recent report, makes it clear that almost zero deforestation occurred in these 1.26 million hectares from late September/early October 2020 to late January/early February 2021.
To reiterate, by the time the ministry's report was made public last week (Feb 15), not a single proposal from either the governor of Papua or West Papua – for the return of areas with good forest cover in existing palm oil concessions to become state forest areas - had been received by the ministry.
Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya - as she has emphasized several times before - continues to confirm that identified high conservation value forests, which include high carbon stock areas, serve as a technical basis for developing possible conservation forests in existing palm oil concessions in the two provinces.
RELATED STORIES
