JAKARTA - Member of Commission IV of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Daniel Johan, praised the greening action taken by environmental activists, Jerhemy Nemo, by cutting down illegally planted oil palm trees in protected forest areas in Aceh. He assessed that Jerhemy's action must be supported by all parties, especially the greening movement based on community empowerment.
"The actions taken by environmental activist Jerhemy Nemo together with a number of communities and communities are good steps that must be supported by all parties," said Daniel Johan, Saturday, July 11.
Daniel also assessed that the illegal logging of oil palm trees, followed by restoration so that the forest can function as a natural habitat, which was carried out by Jerhemy, was not only an effort to restore forest areas, but also a strategy for environmental resilience and community empowerment.
"The action to restore protected forest areas through illegal oil palm plantations and plans to replant forest trees is an effective example of a greening program. Because forest area rehabilitation will be more optimal if carried out through collaboration between the government, community, conservation institutions, and civil society," said Daniel.
According to Daniel, this step also shows that the recovery of forest functions does not only depend on government intervention, but also on the ability to build community participation in maintaining forest areas sustainably.
"So far, forest rehabilitation policies are still more oriented towards achieving planting area targets, while the sustainability aspect of post-restoration has not received adequate attention," said the PKB legislator from the West Kalimantan District.
Daniel alluded to the fact that not a few areas that have been rehabilitated have experienced degradation due to weak supervision, the lack of certainty in management, and the lack of economic incentives that make the community have a direct interest in maintaining the area.
"Therefore, Commission IV of the DPR RI encourages the Ministry of Forestry to develop a Community-Based Forest Landscape Restoration Program. The greening movement requires the empowerment of communities and communities from various elements," he explained.
Daniel assessed that the Landscape and Community-Based Forest Restoration Program can integrate forest area rehabilitation with institutional strengthening of the community around the forest, the development of social forestry, river basin rehabilitation, and the utilization of local species that have ecological and economic value.
"Restoration must not stop at planting trees, but must produce an ecosystem that is able to survive in the long term while improving people's welfare," said Daniel.
Members of the Commission in the DPR who deal with environmental affairs also encourage the Government to build a National Forest Restoration Monitoring System. According to Daniel, this system can be based on satellite imagery, drones, and community reporting that allows the development of rehabilitation areas to be monitored periodically.
"Starting from the level of success of planting, vegetation coverage, to the potential threat of re-invasion. These data need to be the basis for evaluating forest rehabilitation policies at the national level while increasing transparency in the management of conservation areas," he continued.
In addition, Daniel asked the Government to expand the involvement of young generations, environmental communities, universities, and community organizations in forest rehabilitation programs through a more open conservation partnership scheme.
"The experience of various restoration movements shows that public involvement not only strengthens social supervision, but also builds environmental awareness which is the foundation for long-term forest protection," said Daniel.
For Commission IV of the DPR RI, the success of restoring forest areas is not enough to be measured by how many hectares of land have been rehabilitated. Daniel said, more importantly, is to ensure that every area that has been restored really returns to carrying out its ecological functions.
"It also provides benefits for the surrounding community, as well as being part of the national strategy in strengthening Indonesia's environmental resilience, water resilience, and food security," he concluded.
Jerhemy Nemo is back in the public spotlight after sharing an illegal logging of oil palm trees in a protected forest area in Aceh. Jerhemy revealed that around 10 hectares of land planted with illegal oil palm would be returned to its function as a forest area where approximately 1,300 illegal oil palm trees in protected forest areas would be cut down as part of efforts to restore the ecosystem.
This step was taken to restore the area which had previously experienced land conversion so that it could return to being a natural forest. This activity has been carried out with the approval and support of the local community.In addition, the process of restoring this forest area also involves the Forest Management Unit (KPH) Region 7 and conservation organizations that are actively carrying out environmental preservation in Aceh Tamiang. Not only logging, Jerhemy also explained the plan to rehabilitate the area through replanting various types of forest trees.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
