Indonesia has announced plans to return approximately 200,000 hectares of oil palm plantations found in areas designated as forests to the state in order to convert them back to forest, a government official told Reuters.
The world's largest producer and exporter of Palm oil established rules in 2020 to assess the legality of plantations in areas designated as forests, according to the Nov. 1 report.
Authorities justified these measures due to the previous cultivation of some companies, which had operated on these lands for years. However, environmental groups have criticized the government for absolving previous forest invasions.
Under the rules, companies needed to present documentation and pay fines by November 2 to obtain cultivation rights on their plantations.
Bambang Hendroyono, secretary-general of the Ministry of Forestry, identified plantation owners with a total of 1.67 million hectares. However, only 3.3 million hectares of the country's nearly 17 million hectares of palm plantations were located in forests.
Hendroyono explained that the government is still cataloging which of these plantations were in designated production forests, where owners would pay fines but could continue growing oil palms, and which were in protected areas to be returned to the state.
He estimated he could increase the number of hectares returned to around 200,000.
Indonesia's attempts to restore protected forests and combat illegal land use for palm oil
Hendroyono said the government intends to restore plantations in protected and conservation forests after fines are paid, as part of efforts to mitigate climate change.
The report indicates that Mohammad Mahfud MD, Indonesia's chief security minister, intends to take legal action. This would be against palm oil companies using land illegally after the stipulated deadline.
Environmentalists have criticized the impact of palm oil on deforestation. In response, Indonesia launched programs to improve governance in the sector, according to Reuters. Last year, a comprehensive audit of the sector led to the launch of a task force this year. Ensuring adequate payment of taxes by companies is the objective.
Source: Oils & Fats International
