14 REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS FOR CF
5.2. Indonesia adapted from Hindra, 2005
5.2.1. Regulatory Framework
Community forestry in Indonesia evolved along with other recent developments in forestry. In the early 1980s, the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry
MoF introduced a social forestry program in state owned teak forest plantation Perum Perhutani in Java, called Taungya system sistem Tumpangsari. With
the Decree of MoF No. 691 of 1991 and No. 69 of 1995, Pembinaan Masyarakat Desa Hutan or Community Development Program CDP was introduced by the
MoF to be implemented by forest concession holders. Under this program, concessionaires are obligated to support activities that contribute to the socio
economic development of communities living in and around their concessions.
In 1995, the government announced a new policy by issuing MoF Decree No. 622Kpts-II1995, regulating the concept of community forestry not limited to
increasing the technical and production aspects of forest management, but also supporting the development of a community’s capacity and rights in the
management of forest resources as a long term objective. The local people are given access to utilize non timber forest products NTFP. A new MoF Decree
No. 677Kpts-II1997 was issued in 1997 improving the Decree No. 622. With this decree, called Hak Pengelolaan Hutan Kemasyarakatan HPHKM or License
to Manage Forest, community groups can be given the right to utilize forests. Local people are granted a permit to utilize timber and non timber forest products.
However, since there was a need to make some improvement, a new MoF Decree No. 31Kpts-II2001 was signed in 2001. This decree contains regulations to
give a more active role to the local people by defining them as the main actors in forest management. However, the decree has not been implemented because
of new regulations on forestry planning which do not accommodate the right of communities to manage the forest.
In 2003, the Minister declared the Social Forestry Program, and Regulation No.1 Menhut-II2004 was established in 2004 to implement this program. This
is about empowerment of the people living within and surrounding the forest in the implementation of social forestry. In this regulation, social forestry is described
as a system of forest resources management for state forest areas andor private forest, which will provide local people with an opportunity to become the main
actors andor partners in an effort to increase their welfare and preserve the forest.
By the end of 2004, the MoF had declared five priority policies. One of them is the policy to empower the economy of communities within and surrounding
the forest. This policy is an implementation of Act No 41 1999 mentioning several mandates, such as:
• Any forest concessionaire should cooperate with the local community
co-operatives surrounding the forest Article 30; •
The activity of forest and land rehabilitation should implement a participatory approach in order to empower communities surrounding
the forest Article 42.2; and •
In terms of forest management, support to communities is a key to success, so that forest management practices should be oriented towards
empowering the community and not only towards timber production.
Gilmour, O’Brien Nurse
15 These priority policies consider also Government Regulation No. 34 2002,
mandating the empowerment of communities within and surrounding the forest in order to improve community institutional capacity in utilizing the forest
Article 51.
5.2.2. Progress with Implementation