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| Natural Forest in Central Kalimantan (source: Personal documentation) |
I still clearly remember back in 2010 when I just started my bachelor degree, I read news about the Letter of Intent of Norway in Kompas Newspaper and I also wrote an opinion about it 'somewhere' on this blog (it's too old, I can't even remember what I write for the title). At that time I strongly agree about the agreement, by suspending the forest license the Norway government will give the compensation. If I am not mistaken the amount is about US$ 1 billion. It was still a little amount if we compare this with the income that Indonesia will get if the forest is welcomed for production. I also felt saddened by the argument from the news who said that it wouldn't benefit Indonesia. I thought why 'he' thought like that, I mean it's our responsibility to protect the forest and we shouldn't think only by its benefit.
Now, Norway will start their first payment to, Indonesia. Although there isn't any official data yet, news in Thomas Reuter Foundation News stated that the first payment is approximately US$ 20 million. Though it's a good start, is it fair enough for Indonesia?
The question above actually is not my statement. When I started my forestry courses in my 2nd year in university, my lecture asked that. He then explains that the donation was a matter of a politic issue, and warn us to not easily swayed with other countries sweet talk. The statement left me questioning my old opinion about the environment. Well, to be the truth I was really thankful for that, I mean we need to be skeptical since environmental issues are one of the crucial issues in Indonesia which involved many stakeholders and people.
We should know that the initial reason for Indonesia Forest Moratorium was to heal our forest, to protect them from any further damage caused by human especially. Another reason for the moratorium is to reduce the emission. To be honest that was a good initiative. However, in my opinion, moratorium itself won't heal our environmental issues. If the moratorium isn't followed by other supporting activities/ regulation we won't go anywhere.
I mean, do you know that the peat moratorium is also impacted local people? They can't open the land to fulfill their daily life. It's not only about opening land for agriculture but also about the road that connects between villages. We should aware that unlike Java, the other island still has villagers who live near the forest. The moratorium is a good regulation. however we should ask another question for the regulation, then what next, what are your roadmap and your final goal? Extending moratorium clearly isn't a solution.
After all, every 6 months the related ministry should report the progress to the president. I was always curious about the report, what kind it is, and what is the item they reported. Are they only reported the emission reduction? or are they also conducting in-depth research about how to manage forest after the moratorium, increasing productivity in limited land, developing technology, and develop the capacity building of villagers near the forest? There are a lot of things need to be studied while the moratorium is being prevailing. However, I think I've never heard about the report progress from the government, is that only me?
Having another country to donate is a good thing, yeah whatever the reasons for those countries. But we need to remember that we can't and mustn't depend on it. The donation is a good opportunity for us to research thoughtfully for that, but the future solution needs to be developed too.
Well, I still hoped that the government will be consistent for managing sustainable environment despite the political year. And in the future despite receiving the donation, I hope Indonesia can give a donation for other countries to protect their environment. Yah, off course, the country should prosper its people first before doing that.
