PRE-CGI MEETING ON FORESTRY

WORLD BANK OFFICE JAKARTA

OCTOBER 12, 2000

Minutes of the Meeting

Purpose

1.         The purposes of this meeting were to:  give participants a pre-view of the Government and Donors' forestry presentations planned for CGI on October 17, 2000; to correct errors in fact or in interpretation; and to talk over technical issues and details so that the forestry discussions in Tokyo can be focused on the most important issues, problems, and plans for solution.

Attendees

2.          This two-hour meeting was chaired by Thomas Walton, Environment and Social Development Sector Coordinator for Indonesia.  Ms. Ratna Djuwita Wahab, Deputy Coordinating Minister for Agribusiness and Agriculture, Coordinating Ministry for the Economy co-chaired the first half of the meeting.  Mr. Suripto, Secretary-General, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry co-chaired the second half.  The list of attendees is attached.

Opening Remarks

3.         The Chairman reviewed the purpose of the meeting and described the final draft agenda for the CGI proper as it pertains to forestry, which is being covered as a sub-topic under governance.  The agenda offers considerable flexibility, and the arrangement that  best suits forestry is to begin with coverage of a few highlights of the Government's presentation on forestry in the governance presentation by the Coordinating Minister for Economics.  Later in the governance segment, there will be a short address by the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry and a presentation of "An Update on Indonesia's Forest Sector", a donors' perspective being presented by the delegate from the European Commission.  Discussion will follow.

4.         The Co-Chair briefly reviewed progress on the Government's commitments to CGI of February 2000, mentioning some of the main achievements but also candidly describing disappointments and obstacles.  She reiterated the Government's commitment to achieving sustainable forest management. 

The Donor's Presentation

5.         Mr. John Keating of the European Union reviewed the "Update" that will be presented at the CGI.  It was prepared by the European Union in collaboration with other members of the CGI Donor Forum on Forestry.  It covers the current crisis in the forest sector, the status of Indonesia's forests, the deforestation rate, the imbalance between log supply and demand, illegal logging, and institutional issues.  It discusses actions taken by the Government, responses by the donor community, results achieved and outstanding concerns.  It concludes with suggestions for the role of the donor community and recommendations to the Government on next steps.

The Government's Presentation

6.         The Chair opened this topic by describing an informal speech that he and a few other donor representatives had heard given by Minister Bungaran (Minister of Agriculture and Forestry) on October 11.  In it, the Minister presented an articulate and comprehensive vision for forest management in Indonesia, stressing above all else the need to prepare the National Forest Program and to do so in a fully participatory way, in consultation with all stakeholders and at all levels, from the center to the forest communities.  This, he stated, would be the basis for a new paradigm of forest management -- a shift away from the New Order government's emphasis on exploitation.   The vision would be realized in concert with decentralization, no longer the centralized, non-participatory decision-making of the past.   Stressed that in this approach, the Government would be embarking on a process that was in many ways more important than products.   However, the Minister acknowledged that certain products were also needed immediately -- control of illegal logging and wood processing industry restructuring, for example -- to do away with the old management paradigm while the new one is being established.

7.             Because this speech presents a new vision from a new minister (Minister Bungaran took the post in late August) that many Ministry staff were hearing for the first time, it still needs to be incorporated in the documents the Department has been preparing for CGI.  The Co-Chair explained that the Government was therefore not distributing a draft presentation at the pre-CGI meeting, since it was still under preparation.

8.             Ministry staff reviewed some of the actions taken since the last CGI, including establishment of the Interdepartmental Committee on Forestry and the National Forest Program Working Group.  They also pointed out some clarifications needed in the "Update" presentation of figures on forest status.  Secretary-General Suripto presented a 13-point plan of action to combat illegal logging, in which he stressed the need for high-level political commitment at all levels of government.  His task has been made difficult, he observed, because there has not been good cooperation from other departments.  As an example, he has provided reports on 14 illegal logging barons ("cukong") to the Police Department, but no action has been taken.  He also called for allocation of sufficient budgets to the tasks of prevention, detection and suppression of illegal logging, and to education of the public on its impacts.

Discussion

9.         From USAID-NRM project came the view that maybe there is not a full appreciation of the economic importance of the forests, and that this is why there is not broader cooperation from agencies outside Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

10.       A representative of the French Embassy pointed out that ecolabeling, which has not been mentioned in the Donors' or Governments' presentations, is a way to get private companies to appreciate the economic benefit of sustainable forest management.

11.       A CIDA representative explained that Canada was considering increasing its involvement in the forestry sector, which currently consists of relatively small projects in forest fire management and social forestry.  Their emphasis would be on forest law enforcement and social forestry.  But CIDA is looking for a strong commitment from the Government before increasing its involvement in that sector.

12.       An advisor to the Junior Minister of Forestry pointed out that the Donors' presentation concentrated on policy and institutional issues whereas the Government's presentation had talked about actions already taken or to be taken.  He thought it would be beneficial to combine the two. 

13.       From USAID came a suggestion that was immediately seconded by many in the room, for a full-scale nation-wide campaign to educate everyone about forest management and to publicize the Government's intent to make a break with the forest management approach of the past.  Everyone's help is needed to alleviate the crisis of the forests.

14.             Secretary-General Suripto described in more agencies that have not cooperated with his efforts to curtail illegal logging:  Police, Customs, and neighboring countries.  He asked the Bank to pay attention to Malaysia, where logs smuggled out of Indonesia are treated as legal logs once the Malaysian tax is paid.  He also welcomed the USAID proposal for a national campaign as something that would help him.

15.       From Pak Toha, the Head of the Planning Bureau in the Ministry came an explanation of the process of recalculating forest areas that indicated changes were needed in the Donors' paper.  Arrangements were made to consult after the meeting, and the paper was subsequently corrected.  The source of the problem is that the information on the Ministry's website only reflected reassessment of 75% of the forest; work has been stopped for lack of budget, and Pak Toha requested donor assistance in completing the work.  The Bureau is trying to get satellite imagery for all of the forest from the same year, supplemented with radar imagery for cloud-covered locales, and this is expensive.

16.             Planning Bureau staff referred to the series of five workshops on urgent forest management issues conducted during the two months preceding CGI.  He pointed out that various forest stakeholders are learning to work together and that the Government is demonstrating that it is willing to listen.

17.       The representative from the DFID Indonesia Tropical Forest Management Program reminded the group that the complex issues of land tenure and access to resources are fundamental to achieving a new paradigm of forest management and will need to be tackled early in the process.

Conclusion

17.       One overall conclusion of the meeting, echoed by many participants, is that the new paradigm promised by the Minister is badly needed and will be welcome.  However, in the process of implementing it, there continues to be need to eliminate certain elements of the "old paradigm".  This need is the origin of many of the "eight points" -- the urgent actions listed in the Government's commitments to the CGI in February.   They still need to be addressed.

18.       The meeting was adjourned, with the team from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry turning to the redrafting of the Minister's speech to CGI and the Donors to the job of making corrections in the "update".

List of Participants