Activities and Achievement

Supporting Forest Conflict Resolution

The global GIZ Forest Governance Programme (FGP) and the bilateral German-Indonesian Forests and Climate Change Programme (FORCLIME) have been working together since 2013 in Indonesia, to improve forest governance and to strengthen access of local or customary communities to forest resources.

How does FORCLIME support the Resolution of Forest Conflicts?

The two GIZ programmes cooperate with the Indonesian multi-stakeholder platform Working Group on Forest Land Tenure (WGT) and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry on the mapping of customary forest, land use rights and related conflicts, as well as the development of innovative mechanisms for conflict resolution at local level in FORCLIME pilot districts Berau and Kapuas Hulu in Kalimantan.

What has been achieved so far?

In support of the resolution of land and forest related conflicts the following results have been achieved so far:

A study on the institutional and legal set-up for forest conflict resolution in Indonesia was conducted between March and December 2015. The study underlined the need for building capacity for multi-party mediation at local level, for better coordination of conflict resolution across sectors and across all levels of forest governance and suggested the set-up of a conflict resolution mechanism on a pilot basis.
Land tenure assessments were realized in several Forest Management Units (KPHs) across Indonesia for providing comprehensive information and data on current and potential conflicts.
Trainings on land tenure analysis, participatory mapping and mediation of conflicts have been conducted for government staff, private sector and civil society has been conducted in Jakarta, as well as in Berau and Kapuas Hulu districts.
Two conflict management processes were started: In Berau, an initial Memorandum of Understanding was signed between four village communities and a state timber company to develop a “partnership scheme” inside the Forest Management Unit area. In Kapuas Hulu, a conflict concerning administrative village boundaries was successfully resolved through a mediation which was facilitated by WGT. The two village communities Menua Sadap and Pulau Manak celebrated in March 2016 the agreement over their administrative village boundaries by carrying out a special adat ceremony based on their customary traditions to symbolize the end of a long-standing boundary dispute.
Guidelines and lessons learned on mediation and conflict assessment were prepared, published and some already successfully mainstreamed in the in-house training centres of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
Input to the formulation or improvement of national regulations and laws on conflict resolution was provided. In collaboration with the MoEF, WGT assisted the formulation of the new Ministry Regulation on Conflict Handling.
A meeting was organized to review and discuss with various organizations (Indonesian Institute Conflict Transformation, PUSDIKLAT, Impartial Mediator Network, etc) the existing mediation curricula. The meeting identified the need to adopt the existing curricula to the particular considerations of multi-party mediation and to the methodology of experiential adult learning.
As a direct follow-up by the above mentioned study, the Desk Resolusi Konflik Lahan (DRKL) was established in Kapuas Hulu early 2017 and legalized by Regent’s Decree No 110/2017. The aim of the DRKL is to strengthen coordination and mediation of forest and land related conflicts. DRKL consists of a mediation team with 24 officers from different government agencies and Kapuas Hulu based NGOs and a Secretariat for conflict handling hosted by the Dinas Pemberdayakan Masyarakat dan Desa (DPMD).
The newly established DRKL of Kapuas Hulu district was officially launched on 22 February 2017.
FORCLIME entered a collaboration with the Conflict Resolution Unit (CRU) in March 2017 to jointly conduct research on mediation. The aim of this research is to identify principles and conditions (“best practices”) for successful multi-stakeholder mediation processes in Indonesia and for sharing and dissemination of the results with a wider audience.
Early May 2017 the mediation team of DRKL received their first training on mediation. During the training, DSKL members have also identified a list of conflicts which are of priority for the District of Kapuas Hulu and have formed two mediation teams.

Way forward

The DRKL opens up significant opportunities for building staff capacity, and for developing connections and more effective coordination among the agencies and organizations responsible for natural resources management. DRKL must underscore a core commitment to neutrality, develop a clear mandate and designated responsibilities, promotes integration with other agencies and initiatives, including an expanded role and dedicated funding for conflict coordination and mediation.

FORCLIME will support the DRKL during a 3 years pilot phase up to the End of 2019. The focus in the early stages will be on piloting mediations and documentation of the processes and outcomes. Ways will have to be identified to share emerging lessons with a wider audience. The Komunitas Penyelesaian Konflik Sumber Daya Alam (KPKSDA) and the CRU-Technical Advisory Team meetings provide immediate opportunities for this purpose.

Furthermore, the DSKL will need assistance to develop an online system and data base for receiving reports about conflicts and referring them to the authorities in charge.

The District government of Kapuas Hulu will need to explore options for sustainable funding of conflict coordination and mediation. WGT-FORCLIME will ensure that activities, developments and lessons learned are communicated with the relevant authorities on national level and inputs are provided for future national legal and policy decisions in conflict resolution

Ultimately, experiences and lessons learned during the pilot phase may be replicated to other FORCLIME pilot districts.

Revised guideline for forest inventories in production and protection FMUs with support of FORCLIME released

Background
Forest inventories serve the purpose of collecting forest data and other relevant information for management (here: forest management units - FMUs). They provide the basis for all further analyses and planning steps as defined in long-term as well as annual business and management plans.
The application of sound and efficient forest inventory methods at FMU level is a precondition for the formulation of 10-year as well as annual management plans of FMUs and therefore of central importance to the forest sector reform of the Indonesian Government. Specific inventories need to be conducted at regular intervals at FMU, resort (RPH) and compartment level to provide the basis for forest management by determining the potential of forest and non-timber forest products.

2014 Kapuas Hulu forest inventory 1 Dominik

Challenges for forest inventories at FMU level:
The previously developed inventory guideline (released in 2012) as well as the general conditions for forest inventories caused various challenges and difficulties to the implementation at FMU level:

Methodology:

The previous Technical Guidance for Forest Use Planning and the Development of Forest Management Plans in Protection Forest Management Units (KPHL) and Production Forest Management Unit (KPHP), August 2012.” (Technical Guideline for FMU Inventories) recommended applying the same forest inventory methods at FMU level as were developed for the National Forest Inventory (NFI). The simple replication of the NFI method seemed inappropriate for the FMU level with the result of high sampling errors. The NFI sampling method with cluster plots consisting of 1 permanent sample plot (square plot 100mx100m with 16 measurement units), 8 temporary sampling plots with 8 subplots each is very time consuming and costly.
Private sector forest concession companies within FMUs are currently using a different inventory methodology (IHMB) based on a design with large 20x125 m rectangular plots resulting in a time and labour intensive implementation.

Capacities of stakeholders:

There are limited technical and financial capacities of subnational institutions such as within the 22 existing Technical Implementation Units (Balai Pemantapan Kawasan Hutan – BPKH) of the Directorate General (DG) of Forestry Planning and Environmental Governance of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF), FMUs, research institutions, etc.
Local communities are often not adequately integrated into local forest inventories despite their local knowledge on forest areas and species.
Most forest inventories are conducted by private sector timber concession companies which often have the primary interest in creating highest revenues from timber harvesting despite maintaining the forest ecosystem services and functions in the long run.
Specific inventories (e.g. forest carbon inventories) are often conducted by research programmes of universities, NGOs or smaller specialized consulting companies, and rarely integrated into the NFI system.

Mandates of stakeholders:

Mandates, roles and responsibilities between different stakeholders at national level (ministry) and subnational level (provincial and district level) on forest inventories are not always clear.
The mandates of most FMUs are very complex covering sustainable forest management (SFM), emission reduction measures (e.g. RIL, REDD+), watershed management, biodiversity conservation, production of timber and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and thereby improvement of local livelihoods. However, their capacities to fulfil these mandates are rather low.

Scale and topography:

Most FMUs are responsible for managing large forest areas with different functions (conservation, protection, production), ownership types and utilization rights (forest dwellers, communities, private sector).
Due to the size, ecology and topography, the sustainable utilization of most natural forests in Indonesia is difficult. Additionally, forest inventories are time and labour intensive and require dedicated and skilled staff.

Land tenure and utilization rights:

In many cases boundaries and tenure rights of specific forest areas are unclear and subject to disputes and conflicts.
Existing land use conflicts and/or lack of local community involvement are obstacles for inventories in some forest areas. Forest inventory teams are often considered as intruders.

FORCLIME supported the revision of the FMU forest management inventory guideline

FORCLIME has supported MoEF’s Directorate for Forest Resources Inventory and Monitoring (IPSDH) in the review and revision process of the technical guideline for FMU forest management inventories since 2015. In close collaboration with IPSDH and together with the ForestEye consultant team from the University of Goettingen, Germany, several Focus Group Discussions (FGD), workshops and trainings have been conducted which finally led to a revised technical guideline and a minimum standard:

2015 forest inventory training Bogor FORCLIME

March 2015: Preparatory meeting. Assessment of the problems and challenges with the current technical inventory guideline, identification of key personnel within MoEF and set-up of a roadmap for the FORCLIME supported revision process.
April 2015: Focus Group Discussion. Presentation of results from the critical review of the current guideline by the consultants and preliminary recommendations on sampling design alternatives and options for the design of management inventories.
July 2015: Information and Training Needs Assessment. Assessment of the actual purpose of inventories on FMU level to identify information required to be collected during inventories. The link between inventory information and sustainable management plans was a critical issue. The expressed training needs were addressed through subsequent workshops and intensive training sessions in November.
November 2015: Workshop and training. FMU, BPKH and MoEF staff discussed possibilities to increase the cost-effectiveness of the inventory methodology as well as the clear formulation of the inventory purposes and objectives according to FMU needs. The one-day workshop was followed by a three-day training on Geographic Information Systems (GIS), data management, remote sensing and modern forest mensuration devices.
March 2016: Final workshop. A large group of forestry experts from MoEF, universities, FMUs, FAO and GIZ came together for a two-day workshop. Participants provided final inputs and discussed the minimum standard guideline for forest management inventories at FMU level compiled by FORCLIME and ForestEye Consultants.
September 2016: Final minimum standard for forest management inventories on FMU level available in English and Indonesian.
January 2017: Publication of the Director General’s Decree on the technical guideline of forest and socio-cultural inventories in protection and production FMUs (Perdirjen PKTL No. 1/2017) and publication of the minimum standard with forewords from the Director General of Forestry Planning and Environmental Governance and the FORCLIME programme director.

For further information please contact:
Tobias Goedde, Strategic Area Manager for Sustainable Forest Management (SFM)

• Local communities are often not adequately integrated into local forest inventories despite their local knowledge on forest areas and species.

FORCLIME supports Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) in the Forest Management Unit (FMU) Berau Barat

FORCLIME continues cooperation and capacity development in the field of SFM through forest certification (SVLK/ PHPL/ FSC) in the FMU Berau Barat by collaborating with The Borneo Initiative (TBI) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). From 28 September until 07 October 2016, a team from the organisations above conducted site visits in the three forest concessions supported by FORCLIME, namely PT. Utama Damai Timber (UDIT), PT. Wana Bhakti Utama (WBPU) and FSC certified PT. Gunung Gajah Abadi (GGA). The activity, which is part of FORCLIME’s support under the strategic area ‘SFM Sustainable Forest Management’, took place in the FMU Berau Barat, Berau District, East Kalimantan. Support to concessions to obtain SFM certification from the SVLK/ PHPL mandatory national certification scheme and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has been provided since 2013.

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The goal of fostering SFM and FMU development is tackled by intensively working together with so called certification coaches aiming at involving local communities and the private sector. Joint activities include technical trainings, social impact studies and community participation. The certification coaches monitor and supervise the studies, trainings and activities that lead towards one of the above mentioned forest certifications. Depending on the progress made by each forest concession and their experience with SFM, the process of receiving the SFM forest certification varies. Some decisive factors include experience and start-up investment (e.g. forest and basic infrastructure in virgin natural production forests), or duration of operations in the concessions; some companies already operate for more than 30 years whereas others started operations only five years ago.

In terms of forest operations and Reduced Impact Logging to reduce emissions (RIL-C), all three concessions received the full RIL training. This has resulted in at least 25% emission reduction on 136,000 ha, according to the TNC Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) methodology.

The field team observed that river water levels play a crucial role in transporting logs, which ultimately influences the company’s revenue streams. Many concession companies rely on the feasibility of river based rafting practices. Low river water levels result in long storage periods of logs by the river. However this leads to reduced log qualities which may affect log sales prices. Additionally natural events such as irregular rainfall have a major impact on the success of the concession company and hence the sustainability of logging in natural production forests. The optional pure road transport of logs may be an option for some concessions but not for all.
Additionally challenging terrain in mountainous areas and rainfall patterns significantly influence the logging operations as such. Heavy rainfall can stop operations until sunny weather dries the trails and roads for machines and trucks to operate safely.
As far as FSC certified concessions are concerned, managers positively reported on price premiums for FSC certified logs. In certain cases it seems that up to 10% price premiums are paid by buyers based on their clients’ requests.
The visits paid to tree nurseries in the concessions as well as field observations led to the conclusion that there will be a continuous shift of age and diameter classes as well as tree species composition over the future decades in the natural production forests. It became clear that the timber companies reforest and enrich their forest stands with species listed as ‘commercial tree species’ which can be found in the concession’s inventory documentation. Fast growing native species are planted on open spaces left behind from logging operations.
The silvicultural system and logging restrictions are currently based on species, target diameter and logging rotation cycle (30 years). Tree age, forest composition and (annual) increment are generalized over species categories and often poorly documented and/ or analysed as the information is not required to obtain a logging license.

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The FMU Berau Barat covers approximately 780,000 hectares. Almost 50% of the area is categorized as limited production forest (Hutan Produksi Terbatas – HPT) and production forest (Hutan Produksi – HP). Within the FMU Berau Barat there are 12 forest concessions (natural forest/plantation forest). Therefore, the implementation of SFM in the concessions is an essential indicator and crucial for climate change mitigation actions.

For further information, please contact:
Tobias Goedde, Strategic Area Manager for Sustainable Forest Management
Suprianto, Technical Advisor for FMU development, Berau office

South-South Technical Exchange between Indonesia and South Africa on Wildfire Prevention, Preparedness and Response

Background

Forest fires across Sumatra and Kalimantan are blanketing the region with haze and pose a significant threat to human health. Additionally forest fires contribute significantly to biodiversity loss from deforestation and land use change. Especially peat-land fires heavily impact the health of people in these provinces and neighbouring countries and account for the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Indonesia.
Indonesia is one of many countries that are fighting against frequent forest and land fires in a fire-prone environment. In South Africa, wildfire is a natural phenomenon that occurs annually during two dry seasons.
South Africa developed a highly professional Integrated Fire Management (IFM) system, centred on the Working on Fire (WoF) Programme. WoF is a government-funded programme, through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) for the recruitment and training of young men and women from local communities. The community members are employed and trained to form wildland firefighting ground crews that conduct IFM.
Even though the ecosystems in South Africa and Indonesia differ greatly, certain aspects of the WoF Programme may be transferable to the Indonesian context and learning from the highly advanced South African integrated wildfire management system may support the development of promising fire management initiatives and successful fire management in Indonesia.

Summary

During the week of August 21 – 28, 2016, delegates from the Indonesian Government, representatives from GIZ FORCLIME, UNOPS/GAMBUT, Working on Fire and Kishugu attended a South-South technical exchange on wildfire preparedness, prevention and response. The technical exchange was made possible by GIZ FORCLIME and UNOPS/GAMBUT. Indonesian delegates attended lectures and visited WoF operations, Fire Protection Associations (FPAs), FireWise communities, Firehawk installations and the Kishugu training center in Pietermaritzburg, Nelspruit and the Kruger Park areas.
The aim of this exchange was to provide Indonesian stakeholders, at national and provincial level, with first-hand information and experience on the Integrated Fire Management system as it is implmeented in South Africa. There were possible synergies investigated during the exchange on Public Private Partnerships, legislation, financing IFM and tentative FPA development on FMU level in the Indonesian context.

Objective

The objective of this technical exchange is to provide Indonesian stakeholders at the national and provincial level with first-hand information and experience on the South African WoF programme, and to foster a discussion on the applicability/ transferability of certain aspects of the WoF model to the Indonesian context. At best, this leads to the establishment of a close technical assistance partnership between WoF and its Indonesian counterparts – a partnership that contributes significantly to improvements in Indonesia’s wildfire management system.

Study trip experiences based on the WoF model

First, the WoF programme provides valuable inputs and recommendations for the reformation of Indonesia’s recruitment and training of forest fire fighters. As indicated above, in order to reach an adequate manpower of forest fire fighting ground crews in Sumatra and Kalimantan, thousands of people have to be recruited and trained in the upcoming years. For that, participants keenly observed that the WoF programme was initiated as a job creation and social uplifting programme which was then contracted out to a private company (KISHUGU) for implementation and management. Additionally participants supported the importance of research on fire management and responses expected from the affected environment.

Second, the WoF programme shows that fire management can be combined with social development efforts – not just among the fire fighters themselves but also within the communities from which they are recruited. On the one hand, Indonesia’s forest fire fighters could become advocates for fire risk awareness among their communities. During out of fire seasons they could implement fire prevention and mitigation strategies and help local communities in better understanding the risk of fire, provide basic skills in fire response and make them aware of the potential benefits of sustainable custodianship of their environment. The participants really commenced on the improvement of communication in-between fire management stakeholders, be it the private sector or governmental institutions.

Third, the WoF funding mechanism may be transferable to the Indonesian context. WoF is funded both by government and by contributions from private land-owners (forestry concessions, farms and ranches) through so-called Fire Protection Associations (FPA). While membership in these associations is compulsory for public land owners and voluntary for private landowners, the latter are widely encouraged to participate in the FPAs through legal incentives, making them a major source of funding for the Integrated Fire Management (IFM) system. More precisely, South African land owners face stringent duties for wildfire prevention and response. As such, they can also be held accountable for the damages caused by a wildfire that started or spread from their land, unless the respective person can prove that he or she was not negligent (presumption of negligence). This is where participants were introduced to the law enforcement aspects and the underlying legislation of IFM. However, the presumption of negligence does not apply for FPA members. The FPA model is particularly relevant in combination with the Forest Management Unit (FMU) development currently being implemented in Indonesia. Follow-up meetings are planned with the Indonesian Association of forest concessionaires (APHI).

Fourth, currently Indonesia’s fire management mainly focusses on fire suppression. However suppression is only one out of many components of IFM. The WoF community awareness model may be transferable to the Indonesian context. Additional to the use of local youth in firefighting efforts, WoF has developed the FireWise Communities programme for implementation in rural and developing communities dependent on the landscape for their livelihoods. This awareness and education model could underpin a nationally coordinated community-driven awareness programme to reach out and involve all levels of Indonesian society in eliminating the majority of fires before they start. This is especially relevant in Indonesia where various agencies and companies have undertaken a variety of community awareness programmes with widely varying and often conflicting messages to the public. Due to the similarities in socio-economic conditions in communities, the WoF FireWise programme provides effective concepts for the integration of and collaboration with communities in the IFM system.

For more information, please contact:
Tobias Goedde, Strategic Area Manager, Sustainable Forest Management

GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN THE INDONESIAN FORESTRY SECTOR

Responding to the growing calls for gender mainstreaming, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF) initiated a process to mainstream gender in the forestry sector, asking the GIZ FORCLIME Programme for technical assistance. Gender mainstreaming in the development context aims to improve the quality of participation in and utilization of development processes for both men, women, and other marginalized groups. In March 2014, the Gender Working Group of the MoEF requested FORCLIME to support the Ministry in several areas:

• to integrate gender mainstreaming into MoEF’s Forestry Strategic Plan (RENSTRA 2015-2019),
• in the development of a “Gender Responsive Forestry and Climate Change Programme”,
• to revise the Ministerial Decree on the “Guideline for Implementation of Gender Mainstreaming”, and
• to implement and facilitate the documentation of lessons learned from gender mainstreaming pilot activities in the FORCLIME demonstration areas in Kalimantan.

How does FORCLIME support gender mainstreaming?

GIZ FORCLIME supported the Gender Working Group at MoEF in the inclusion of gender aspects into the Ministry’s Strategic Plan (RENSTRA 2015-2019) as well as in piloting the field implementation. This included establishment of demonstration activities at sub-national levels and – in a strategic partnership with the GIZ Strengthening Women Rights project (GIZ SWR) – leveraging SWR’s work with the Ministry of Women and Empowerment (MoWE) towards the forestry sector, using a multilevel approach.

What has been achieved so far?

• FORCLIME supported MoEF and MoWE on disseminating gender issues and Community Dialogue methodologies to 50 government officials in in East Sumba District, to 30 officials in Agam District, 30 officials in West Sumatra Province, 25 government officials in Berau District in East Kalimantan Province and 20 officials from Malinau District (North Kalimantan Province).
• FORCLIME supported MoEF and MoWE to conduct trainings on gender mainstreaming with 60 farmers (organized in farmers groups) in Sumba Timur District and with 50 farmers from Agam District. Awareness raising on gender mainstreaming and child protection was also facilitated with 50 farmers from Tepian Buah Village and 30 farmers from Long Okeng Village in Berau District as well as 35 farmers in Setulang Village, Malinau District. Besides GIZ’s conceptual framework on gender mainstreaming, the Community Dialogue approach from GIZ Strengthening Women’s Rights project (GIZ SWR) was used.
• FORCLIME supported the revision of the Ministerial Decree SK Menhut No.528/Menhut-II/Peg/2004 on the “Guideline for the Implementation of Gender Mainstreaming”. FORCLIME, together with MoEF’s Gender Working Group, has trained at least 100 auditors from MoEF on gender, gender mainstreaming, as well as gender responsive planning, budgeting and auditing. The auditors will have the role to audit all units in MoEF on gender-based programmes and activities as outlined in the Ministry’s planning and budgeting. As gender-based auditing will be mainstreamed in 2016, the performance of all units in the Ministry will be measured against their gender-responsiveness. This auditing process will continue in medium to long term as it is mandated in the legislation.
• FORCLIME supported its partners at MoEF, the COP signatories, during the process of formulating a position on “climate change, forestry and gender” to be presented at COP 21 in Paris.

What was our impact?

• Gender mainstreamed in national strategies: Through GIZ FORCLIME’s contribution, the overall five-year national forestry strategic plan (RENSTRA) 2015-2019 was gender-mainstreamed. MoEF allocated a gender responsive budget for 2014 of IDR 30,081,042,000 and budgeting for gender activities over the next five years will be allocated as outlined in the RENSTRA.
To ensure the adherence of these plans FORCLIME, together with the MoEF Working Group on Gender, trained over 100 auditors of the Inspection Directorate on gender mainstreaming on how to audit the planning, budgeting and implementation of activities. The gender based auditing has a legal basis and will be implemented in 2016. All units in MoEF will thus be measured against their success in integrating gender-responsive activities in their planning frameworks.
• Multiplier effect: Through FORCLIME’s gender-related activities 25 gender focal points have been trained via the ToT approach, which extended the gender training towards 155 government officials and 215 farmers on field level. Additionally in a South-South dialogue the lessons learned from gender mainstreaming in MoFE were shared with 50 participants of GIZ Brazil projects on the 22 July 2015.
• Acknowledgements beyond our collaboration: In a national competition among all ministries, the Government of Indonesia awarded the top award to MoEF for implementing gender mainstreaming in its planning documents and activities. As a result of the support and collaboration, in 2016 MoEF is likely to move up to level 1 in the annually awarded national prize for “Gender Mainstreaming Classification” among all ministries. Also, GIZ FORCLIME won the first prize of the “GIZ Communicating Gender Award” in 2015 for GIZ Indonesia, Timor Leste and ASEAN.

Next steps

FORCLIME will continue to support the Gender Working Group at MoEF in the implementation of gender mainstreaming with focused emphasis on sustainability of mainstreaming through policies, as well as monitoring and evaluation involving both auditors and inspectorates.

Please watch the video of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to learn more about our joint activities.

FORCLIME

FORCLIME

FORCLIME

Supporting Forest Conflict Resolution

Revised guideline for forest inventories in production and protection FMUs with support of FORCLIME released

FORCLIME supports Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) in the Forest Management Unit (FMU) Berau Barat

South-South Technical Exchange between Indonesia and South Africa on Wildfire Prevention, Preparedness and Response

GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN THE INDONESIAN FORESTRY SECTOR

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