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01 December 2015 Indonesia
Jakarta Post, 23 November 2015 - Once again, catastrophic forest and land fires in Indonesia have become a hot issue in the national and international press. Haze from Sumatra to Papua has been creating massive problems in Indonesia and in its neighbouring countries.
12 November 2015 Indonesia
Many issues related to social forestry are hot topics nowadays in Indonesia due to the announcement of the administration of President Joko Widodo to distribute 12.7 million of land to indigenous people and to re-distribute 9 million hectares of agriculture land (Land Allocated for Agrarian Reform/TORA). 4.1 million hectares to be distributed will derive from state forest areas. Criticism and many questions have arisen since the announcement, giving the opportunity to various parties to share their enthusiasm and contribute with their critical thinking to address the issues at stake.
21 September 2015 Indonesia
The fourteenth World Forestry Congress (WFC), which was held in Durban, Republic of South Africa, from 7-11 September, had as key theme ‘Forest and People: Investing Sustainable Future’. Interestingly, the theme resembled the eighth WFC held in Jakarta (16-28 October 1978) which had the key theme: Forests for People.
19 August 2015 Indonesia
Ideas for community based forest management (CBFM) have emerged since the 1970s, but movements to support it in Indonesia, mainly by NGOs, began in 1995. After a long journey of struggle to convince various parties, finally the ideas have fallen in fertile soil under the current government.
31 July 2015 Indonesia
To deal with rampant land disputes involving indigenous communities, the Environment and Forestry Ministry of Indonesia has set a target of redistributing 12.7 million hectares of social forests (2015-2019). The majority, 6.8 million ha, would be taken from concession forests — totaling 30 million ha, from which around 10 million ha are under industrial forest permits (HTI) and around 12 million ha are natural production forest concessions (HPH) — in the form of partnership forests, Hutan Kemitraan (HK).
12 June 2015 Indonesia
The Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra (TRHS) was inscribed in the Natural World Heritage list in 2004 by World Heritage Committee (WHC)-UNESCO for its unique natural beauty, the importance of its habitats for the conservation of endemic species, and the significant role of its on-going ecological and biological processes in its ecosystems to the global landscape. TRHS comprises three widely separated National Parks (NP); Gunung Leuser, Kerinci Seblat and Bukit Barisan Selatan. They cover a total area of 2.5 million hectares, constituting one of the biggest conservation areas in Southeast Asia.