Home to the world's third-largest tropical forests and also its biggest palm-oil producer, Indonesia introduced a three-year freeze on plantation permits that expires in September
* Three-year freeze on new palm oil permits ends in September
* Conservationists urge Indonesia to make permanent or extend
* Indefinite ban on clearing primary forest already in place
By Michael Taylor
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - I ndonesia should make permanent its temporary ban on new permits for palm oil plantations to advance progress on tackling deforestation and meet its climate goals, environmentalists say.
Home to the world's third-largest tropical forests and also its biggest palm-oil producer, Indonesia introduced a three-year freeze on plantation permits that expires in September.
The moratorium sought to prevent forest fires, deforestation and land conflicts, help meet emissions reduction targets set under the Paris climate accord, boost oversight and accelerate efforts to increase yields among smaller palm oil producers.
Yuyun Harmono, climate justice campaign manager at the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI), said a three-year ban was not long enough to achieve those goals.
"They (government) have to extend it for longer as we still have the same problems," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Our main goal would be to have a permanent moratorium."
In 2019, Indonesian President Joko Widodo issued a separate permanent moratorium on new forest clearance for activities such as palm plantations or logging, covering about 66 million hectares (163 million acres) of primary forest and peatland.
Last year, tropical forest losses around the world equalled the size of the Netherlands, according to satellite monitoring service Global Forest Watch (GFW), despite improved protection in parts of Southeast Asia.
Conservationists blame production of commodities like palm oil - used in everything from margarine to soap and fuel - and minerals for much of the destruction of forests, as they are cleared for plantations, ranches, farms and mines.
Destroying rainforests has major implications for global goals to curb climate change, as trees absorb about a third of the planet-warming emissions produced worldwide, but release carbon back into the air when they rot or are burned.
"The palm oil moratorium was introduced in response to the catastrophic forest fires that occurred in Indonesia's forests and peatlands in 2015," said Gemma Tillack, forest policy director at U.S.-based nonprofit Rainforest Action Network.
"Permanent moratoria would be welcomed and if enforced would make a massive contribution to the Indonesian government's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," she added.
DECLINING FOREST LOSS
Ahead of November's COP26 U.N. climate talks, Indonesia last month submitted an updated national climate action plan.
Government ministers said the country was optimistic of reaching a net-zero emissions goal by 2060 or sooner - at least a decade earlier than its previous 2070 target, President Joko Widodo noted in March.
To meet this pledge, limiting forest destruction and conversion of land will be key, said green groups.
"The (Paris) agreement recognised the important role that avoiding deforestation and forest degradation would play in limiting temperature rises to 1.5 degrees (Celsius)," said Tillack.
GFW's 2020 deforestation data showed Indonesia's primary forest loss decreased to just over 270,000 hectares - a fourth straight year of declines.
The downward trend has been due to a series of government policies, including the freeze on permits for oil palm plantations, said forestry experts.
Noting this success, Norway agreed in 2019 to make the first payment for reduced emissions under a $1-billion deal with Indonesia to help protect its tropical forests.
"These (palm oil and forest) moratoria have contributed to reduced deforestation in Indonesia, both in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and forest converted and degraded," said Johan Kieft, a green economy advisor for the U.N. Environment Programme.
Indonesia's environment and forestry ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
FIRST STEP
Despite the fall in Indonesia's deforestation rates, a lack of available data on plantation permits makes it difficult to attribute the trend directly to the palm plantation moratorium, said Aditya Bayunanda, a director at green group WWF Indonesia.
The rate of expansion of palm oil plantations was already in decline in 2018, when the freeze was introduced, due to the weak price of the edible vegetable oil, forestry experts said.
However, the benefits of the policy to date have included the release of government data on palm plantations in state-owned forest estates, efforts to improve productivity among smallholders, better law enforcement against illegal plantations and reviews of existing permits, said Bayunanda.
"We believe that the moratorium has been an important first step and that it should continue, to give time until the initial purposes of the decree are met," he said.
In Malaysia, the world's second-largest palm oil producer, a cap on its palm oil plantation area had ensured higher yields than in neighbouring Indonesia, said Helena Varkkey, a lecturer at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur.
The best course for Indonesia now is to extend the palm oil moratorium and double down on implementation of the policy, said Andika Putraditama, forests and commodities manager at the World Resources Institute (WRI) Indonesia, a think-tank.
That would include enforcing a mandate given to local governments to revoke licenses not aligned with Indonesia's regulation and sustainable development goals, he added.
But with the Southeast Asian nation overwhelmed in recent months by a rapid spike in coronavirus cases, authorities may yet turn to the palm oil industry to lead an economic recovery, environmentalists warned.
A job creation bill passed by the Indonesian parliament late last year and an ambitious biodiesel push could also hinder any extension of the palm plantation moratorium, they added.
"Without an extension, the previously unbridled issuance of palm oil licenses will resume, which would put even greater pressure on natural forests," warned Angus MacInnes, project officer at the UK-based Forest Peoples Programme.
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(Reporting by Michael Taylor @MickSTaylor; Editing by Megan Rowling. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news.trust.org)
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