Jakarta, Kompas (10/7/2013). The plenary session of the House of Representatives (DPR) on Tuesday (9/7) approved the Law on Prevention and Eradication of Forest Destruction to be enacted. Various parties regret this decision as it has the potential to increase conflicts among communities living around forests and add complexity to efforts to improve forest governance.

Therefore, the Civil Society Coalition for Forest Conservation is preparing a draft for a constitutional review of the Law on Prevention and Eradication of Forest Destruction (P3H). The review will soon be submitted to the Constitutional Court.

“The drafting of the Law on Forest Destruction Prevention is not transparent and seems to be done in secrecy. Both the substance and formal aspects of the legislation deviate,” said Siti Rahma Mary, Coordinator of the Legal Reform and Conflict Resolution Program of the HuMa Association, who is also a member of the coalition.

Since the plan to enact the Law, originally named the Law on Illegal Logging and the Law on Prevention and Eradication of Forest Destruction (P2H), was revealed, the Civil Society Coalition has expressed their rejection of the enactment of this Law. Their objections were directly conveyed to the Vice Chairman of the DPR, Pramono Anung, and in an audience with the Working Committee team of the P3H Law at Commission IV.

“Our input was not considered as the Law was still passed. Until now, we are having difficulty obtaining the latest draft,” she said. The National Commission on Human Rights, the National Forestry Council, and several land/agriculture experts also reject this Law.

The P3H Law is considered to disregard the Constitutional Court’s decision that eliminated the concept of designated forests (Law No. 41/1999 concerning Forestry). Some time ago, the Constitutional Court also ruled to exclude customary forests from state forest coverage.

In the public review of the P2H Law examined by five forestry and legal experts (April 2013), it was not recommended to continue the discussion on the Law.

“The P2H Law is not urgent and does not address the issues in the forestry sector. What the forestry community needs now is a revision of Law No. 41/1999 concerning Forestry to accommodate the interests of communities who have traditionally preserved the forest and to enforce strict legal sanctions against forestry crimes committed by companies,” as recommended by the examination assembly.

The P3H Law has been in process since 2002. According to the Chairman of the Special Committee of the House of Representatives Commission IV, Firman Subagyo, this Law aims to deter forest destroyers, especially corporations. He guarantees that this Law does not target or affect indigenous communities utilizing the forest.

However, the Civil Society Coalition is concerned that the implementation in the field may affect indigenous or local communities around the forest. Siti Rahma pointed out, for example, Article 1 number 6, activities conducted by a group consisting of two or more individuals, acting with a unified purpose.

This is seen to create conflicts in 30,000 villages around designated or government-designated forest areas. The Ministry of Forestry acknowledges that only 19 million hectares of the 120 million hectares of forest area have been legalized. (ICH)

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