KLHK Denies RTRW Bleaching Plan In East Kalimantan

Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya/ANTARAPHOTO/PUSPA PERWITASARI)

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) has denied any bleaching related to the Regional Spatial Planning (RTRW) covering an area of 612,355 hectares in East Kalimantan.

"The plan to bleach the East Kalimantan RTRW is not true," said LHK Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar at a Working Meeting (Raker) with Commission IV of the DPR as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, August 31.

Siti said that her party was conducting research related to the revision of the RTRW because changes in spatial planning had procedures.

On July 7, 2023, the Indonesian Coalition Monitored which consisted of Walhi, Auriga Nusantara, the Agrarian Update Consortium, Forest Watch Indonesia, and Aman East Kalimantan reported that there were efforts to release and reduce the status of forest areas of 612,355 hectares listed in the RTRW revision in East Kalimantan.

Surgear Campaign Foundation Auriga Nusantara Hilman Afif revealed that there were 156 company concession permits that annexed the forest area. The companies consist of the mining sector, large-scale palm oil monoculture, and wood plantations.

As many as 56 percent of the forest areas to be released are still in the form of natural forests and become habitats for orangutans and the Sumatran Rhino.

In total there are 736,055 hectares of forest that will be changed in function and designation, with details of 83.19 percent or the equivalent of 612,355 hectares experiencing forest area release, 13.83 percent or the equivalent of 101,788 hectares experiencing a decline in forest area status, and only 2.7 percent or the equivalent of 19,858 hectares experiencing an increase in forest area status, and 0.28 percent or the equivalent of 2,054 hectares did not experience a change in status.

The Indonesian Forum for the Environment or Walhi asked the government to align RTRW revisions with climate commitments by not releasing forest areas carelessly to land concession companies.