Thursday, April 05, 2018

Indonesian civil society calls on government for transparency and accountability to protect and restore peatlands and forests

An Indonesian coalition of NGOs has released a joint statement to call for improved transparency and sustainability criteria in the new Indonesian government policy to protect peatlands. The NGO coalition (Gemapala Fakfa, Belantara Papua, Auriga, Eyes on The Forest, WWF Indonesia, Wetlands International, ELSAM, Yayasan Pusaka, HaKi and Kemitraan) expressed its support for the Indonesian government plans to protect and restore Indonesia’s peatland. However, the NGOs are concerned with the “land swap” policy, issued in July 2017, which allocates new HTI concessions on mineral soils as compensation to forestry companies that will have to restore peatlands in their own concessions.
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