Participation of the Private Sector in the Management and Monitoring of Biodiversity Conservation Based on case study entitled : “Emerging Participation of the Private Sector in Management and Monitoring of Biodiversity Conservation in Indonesia” Authored by : Dr. Petrus Gunarso, from RCE East Kalimantan-Tropenbos Indonesia, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Dr. Sukartiningsih, from Mulawarman University, East Kalimantan, Indonesia and Ishak Yassir, from Balitek Konservasi, Samboja East Kalimantan Presented by : Dr. Petrus Gunarso, at Asia Regional Forum on Biodiversity, Cha-am, Thailand, November 2011 Indonesia has about 120 million hectares of designated forestlands, of which about 50 million hectares are intact or primary forests (World Bank, 2003; FWI/GFW, 2002). From the biodiversity point of view, Indonesia’s forests contain about 10 per cent of the world’s flowering plant species, 12 per cent of mammalian species, and 17 per cent of the reptilian and amphibian species (Matthew et al., 2002). In terms of total conservation areas, Indonesia covers more than 22 million hectares of protected forest and conservation forest that consist of 50 national parks, 175 nature reserves, 16 grand forest parks, 47 wildlife sanctuaries, 81 tourism parks, and 15 hunting parks. Indonesia has also more than 31 million hectares of protection forest. Since the late 70s, biodiversity conservation in Indonesia has been the responsibility of the central government. After the fall of the Suharto government in 1998, Indonesia transitioned into a democratic and decentralized government. However, biodiversity management and conservation remains the responsibility of the central government. Consequently, many small and isolated conservation areas received very little attention. With low priority, inadequate budget, and lack of local government support, most of the biodiversity conservation areas and areas with high biodiversity values became degraded. This situation is similar for production forests. After the reformation era, production forests were increasingly pressured by population growth, illegal logging, forest fire, and land use change for agriculture, transmigration, timber plantation and 56 THE ASIA REGIONAL FORUM ON BIODIVERSITY oil palm. These pressures not only increased the rate of deforestation but also caused the collapse of forest concessions. The rate of deforestation increased from 1.2 million hectares per year in 1996, to 1.67 million hectares per year between 1984 and 1997, to above 2 million hectares per year. The deforestation rate decreased to about 1.17 million hectares per year between 2003 and 2006. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of active forest concessions in Indonesia decreased drastically from 580 units (61.4 million hectares) to 362 units (39.2 million hectares); and continued decreasing, however at a slower pace, in the period 2000-2010, from 362 units (39.2 million hectares) to 303 units (24.9 million hectares) that only 167 concessionaires or 55 per cent are actually active (Table 1). The decrease of the number of active forest concessions is also caused by the abandonment of over-logged forests. These areas lack management and become open access for illegal logging, intrusion of forest by local people, and forest fire that change rapidly over-logged forest (secondary forest) into marginal land. Land conversion into oil palm plantations, particularly by small holders, is another reason for forest degradation. Following the decline of timber extraction, other forms of natural resource extraction emerged such as expansive oil palm plantations and coal mining. In 2010, Indonesia became the world’s largest oil palm producer in terms of total area planted (8.045 million hectares) and total crude oil palm production of 20.5 million tons per year.
In Celebration of His Majesty the King of Thailand’s 84th Birthday Anniversary
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