VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry has implemented a social forestry program by implementing affirmative policies, namely increasing a sense of justice for the community, including indigenous people. Through this policy, the realization of social forest permits is expected to be completed in five to eight years so that the proportion of people to forests can increase, even though the corporation still dominates. Social Forestry itself is a system of sustainable forest management carried out in state forest areas by local communities to improve welfare, maintain environmental balance and maintain socio-cultural dynamics.

The government for the 2015-2019 period has allocated 12.7 million hectares for Social Forestry, through village forest schemes, community forests, customary forests, community plantations and forestry partnerships. Social forestry programs are aimed to create harmony by improving people's welfare and forest conservation. Minister of Environment and Forestry, Siti Nurbaya Bakar said that the social forestry will be a program that will continue and be increased in 2019. The program has been allocated around 13 million hectares.

After social forest reserves reach the target, the next step is to increase the issuance of social forest permits. Throughout 2018, the average provision of social forestry permits amounted to 105 thousand forestry permits per month. This number increased compared to the previous year as many as 44 thousand permits per month. This increase occurred in line with improvements in governance in the form of de-bureaucratization and deregulation carried out by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

The process of distributing social forest permits is a significant challenge because it must involve many parties, both regional governments, activists and academics to continue to assist the community in understanding social forest business management. Mentoring is also needed so that plants in social forests can produce maximum economic and ecological values. Companion of the social forest program, Tosca Santoso affirmed that if this social forestry program is implemented correctly, it can improve the regional economy, open employment, prevent natural disasters and help control climate change.