Surabaya, The Partnership. Overlapping regulations in the forestry sector, weak coordination among relevant departments, absence of clear target and strategy from the Department of Forestry in addressing the issue of illegal logging, and problematic law enforcement process from the level of the Police, Public Attorney to the court were the pertinent issues discussed in the workshop and seminar on “The Challenge of Law Enforcement in Addressing Illegal Logging and the Reform of the Forestry Sector”, held by the Partnership on 27-28 May 2009 at Ibis Hotel, Surabaya. Illegal logging is a cross-cluster programme in the Partnership, between the Economic and Environmental Governance Cluster and the Security and Justice Governance Cluster.
This event is part of the Partnership’s support towards resolving problems in forestry management and preventing the on-going forest destruction in Indonesia, especially due to illegal logging. The Partnership is trying to gather relevant stakeholders in a forum, especially the government and civil society elements that have similar concerns over issues in the forestry sector, to formulate concrete steps in resolving existing problems, especially related to the problem in law enforcement and bureaucracy reform in the forestry sector.
Present as participants in this seminar were legal experts from various universities in Indonesia such as Airlangga University Surabaya, Gadjah Mada University Yogyakarta, Brawijaya University Malang, Riau University, Andalas University Padang, Al Azhar University Jakarta, Lambung Mangkurat University Banjarmasin, Tanjung Pura University Pontianak, Hasanudin University Makassar, Indonesian Muslim University Makassar, North Sumatra University Medan and Mataram University. Representations from the civil society were the Indonesian Corruption Watch, Association for Legal Reform Based on Society and Ecology (HUMA), Transparency International Indonesia, Forest Watch Indonesia and the National Forestry Council (DKN).
It was revealed in this seminar that the licensing system in the forestry sector has resulted in a high transaction cost due to the difference in interpretation and implementation of the Forestry Law. The result of DKN research stated that the process and control of license have been complicated and run by different parties such as the central government, provincial government and municipal government. Thus, the participants of the seminar felt the need for a reform in the forestry sector, of which one of them is by reforming bureaucracy in the Department of Forestry.
The result of this workshop will be conveyed to the upcoming government (both the newly-elect DPR and President). In addition, several issues that were unveiled in this workshop will be conveyed to KPU to be made as reference in formulating the material for presidential debate that will be held by them.
