RI Should Improve Forest Governance

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Indonesia should improve its forest governance as its index is still low in order to achieve sustainable development and green growth, a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) director said.

"Indonesia's Forest Governance Index is still low. There are rooms to improve it, even to implement the existing rules and regulations," UNDP director for Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific Haoliang Xu said during an interview here on Sunday evening.

UNDP Indonesia, Ministry of Forestry, National REDD+ Task Force and National Development Planning Board (BAPPENAS) jointly conducted the participatory government assessment (PGA) to provide adequate monitoring instrument for forest and peat land protection in Indonesia.

The index analyses the country's current state of forest governance and the implications for the Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+).

Indonesia, with support from the UN-REDD Global Progamme, is one of the four pilot countries launching a forest governance index. The other countries are Ecuador, Nigeria and Vietnam.

The report covers Indonesia's 10 provinces such as Aceh, Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi, West Papua and Papua.

Using a scale of one to five, the result was an index of 2.33 in 2012. (*/DWA)