[ap-intact] INFO: Indonesia improving forest governance through informed policy-making

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[Facilitator’s note: Thank you to Estelle Fach, UNDP REDD+, for sharing this information.]

Dear colleagues,
With UN-REDD support, Indonesia’s Environment and Forestry Minister, Ibu Siti Nurbaya, launched two reports to improve forest governance, including issues of transparency, accountability, integrity and participation,as part of the country’s National REDD+ strategy in Jakarta 21st May. Efforts to guide and inform policy-making towards tangible policies and measures with a view to improve the overall forest and REDD+ governance will be emphasized in the continuation of this work.
·                  The 2014 Indonesian Forest Governance Index (FGI) is the second report of its kind, with the first report providing baseline data in 2013.  The follow-up work after the first report has resulted in actual changes in practice through informed policy-making and prioritized action towards improvements, such as revision of regulations, increased allocation of forest resources to local communities. The 2014 FGI is another important milestone, again providing robust governance data validated through stakeholder inputs and contributions, along with a set of recommendations stakeholders view as relevant and realistic to address the shortcomings found. The report provides information on certainty over forest areas; fairness over forest resources; forest management transparency and integrity; as well as law enforcement capacity.  All four governance issues take into account the following three cross-cutting dimensions: laws and policies; different actors’ capacity to implement REDD+; and forest governance performance (de facto conditions on the ground).
·                   Towards Better Forest Governance for REDD+ in Indonesia : an Evaluation of the Forest Licensing System (hyperlink: tinyurl.com/Indonesia-forest-license) Covering 52 million hectares of forest lands, forest licenses in Indonesia can play a role to regulate high forestry and land sector emissions and be a key element in strengthening forest governance for REDD+. The existing online licensing system at the central level has been a first step, yet concerns about its effectiveness and transparency have led to the need for an in-depth evaluation. The study was conducted at the request and under the guidance of the Ministry of Forestry as a recommendation from Indonesia’s first FGI, with the goal to identify and mitigate inefficiencies and corrupt practices in the process to apply and obtain forest licenses. The evaluation is based on quantitative and qualitative information gathered from 116 service users and 44 service providers. It examines 11 governance indicators and reveals that areas for needed improvement include 1) timeliness of the service 2) unofficial fees that service users have to pay  3) access to online information;  4) independence of service providers from their supervisors and 5) favorable treatments for better-connected large scale companies. Conversely, service users are more satisfied about the overall convenience of the facilities and the availability of the complaints mechanism, with reservations however on diligence in follow-up on complaints.

Best regards,
Abdul Situmorang, Kristin DeValue, Estelle Fach and Tina Sølvberg
UN-REDD Programme

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