Jakarta, December 17, 2013. Indonesia is at a crossroads. President SBY’s commitment to reduce emissions by 26% or 41% from business-as-usual conditions by 2020 while maintaining economic growth of 7% is being questioned by civil society, especially with the acceleration and expansion policies of Indonesia’s economic development covered in Presidential Regulation No. 88/2011 or MP3EI, which are actually threatening the remaining Indonesian forests, crucial for the livelihoods of tens of millions of people, including indigenous and local communities. The Government’s promise to ‘green’ the MP3EI after civil society protests has not materialized yet, with the upcoming elections nearing. Based on analyses by HuMa and 23 other organizations involved in documenting conflicts, environmental damage, and agrarian conflicts, it is estimated that these issues will increase as political activities intensify towards the elections due to the proliferation of economic-political transactions to secure positions of power. In this regard, regions become important battlegrounds as it is where the exploitation of natural resources concessions is significantly issued en masse towards the elections.

The Government’s policy to reduce emissions from forest destruction known as REDD+ is currently facing inconsistencies with the above policies. One and a half years have passed since the promise to improve Indonesia’s forest governance was outlined in the National REDD+ Strategy launched in June 2012. After a long wait, the REDD+ institution expected to implement the National Strategy has finally been established, but its authority is limited and its leadership has not been announced, leaving the REDD+ Body lagging behind in various ongoing policy processes.

The REDD+ National Strategy is being translated into Provincial Strategies and Action Plans (SRAP) to implement REDD+ at the regional level. The consistency of SRAP substance with the National Strategy and its ability to provide concrete solutions to forest issues in the regions are the main hopes placed on the SRAP. In this context, HuMa conducted a comprehensive examination of SRAP substances in three provinces: West Sumatra, East Kalimantan, and Central Sulawesi, especially regarding indigenous and local community rights issues. Initial analyses reveal some significant findings, such as the exclusion of deforestation projections and the potential environmental and forest destruction due to MP3EI, as seen in the SRAP of Central Sulawesi.

“Central Sulawesi’s SRAP seems to reflect past environmental issues,” said Martje Leninda, Director of Bantaya Association. “What concrete plans do local governments have to reduce deforestation and resolve forest conflicts in their areas when faced with MP3EI projects that could potentially trigger new conflicts?”

“Although Central Sulawesi is a REDD+ pilot province, mining expansion has increased significantly,” said Rifai Hadi, Campaign Manager of the Central Sulawesi Mining Advocacy Network. “In 2013, there were 356 Mining Business Permits covering 1.5 million hectares, not including the number of Work Contracts and LNG industries.”

Moreover, palm oil expansion in Central Sulawesi is also concerning. “On paper, the palm oil business permit in Central Sulawesi has reached 94,000 hectares. In Morowali alone, there has been a 100% expansion of palm oil in the last 5 years,” said Ahmad, Director of Walhi Central Sulawesi.

 Additionally, there are weak legal foundations. The legal framework of SRAP, which only consists of Governor Regulations, hinders SRAP implementation as it cannot override Regional Regulations that serve as the legal basis for natural resource exploitation in Central Sulawesi. “Governor Regulations are inadequate to address the complex issues that should be included in higher-level legal documents,” stated Azmi Sirajuddin from the Merah Putih Foundation (YMP) Palu. “Another weakness of SRAP in Central Sulawesi is that the document is only familiar at the provincial level, not at the district/city level. This leads to a lack of support from district/city governments in Central Sulawesi towards the SRAP document and its future implementation,” he added.

Andreas Lagimpu, Member of the National Forestry Council’s Regional Delegation for Sulawesi, reminded that the REDD+ program in Central Sulawesi must seriously develop and support sustainable forest management models by communities. “Indigenous and local communities