Become A Spotlight, Minister Of Forestry Claims Open Cooperation To Solve Forest Issues

Minister of Forestry (Menhut) Raja Juli Antoni during a meeting with a number of CSOs and NGOs at the Ministry of Forestry office in Jakarta, Friday (3/01/2025). ANTARA/ (HO-Kemenhut)

JAKARTA - Minister of Forestry (Menhut) Raja Juli Antoni said his party was open to cooperating with various parties, including civil society organization (CSO) and non-government organization (NGO) to maintain and resolve forest problems.

"I am very open in cooperation with civil society organizations with NGOs, nationally and internationally. I know exactly the limitations of the government, both from resources, from a human perspective, as well as funding. The achievements must also be changed," said the Minister of Forestry as reported by ANTARA, Friday, January 3.

The Minister of Transportation discussed the potential for cooperation with a number of CSOs, namely the Indigenous Regulation Agency (BRWA), the Alliance of Indigenous Peoples (AMAN), and the HuMa Association.

Raja Juli Antoni menyatakan siap menerima kritik dan siap melakukan diskusi bersama untuk menghadirkan solusi atas persoalan di sektor kehutanan.

During the meeting, the Minister of Transportation had assigned his staff to form a task force so that coordination could be more intense.

Meanwhile, Director of HuMa Agung Wibowo said his party encouraged the Minister of Forestry to follow up on the collaboration of regional legal product research related to indigenous peoples and proposed that the Ministry of Forestry could follow up on applications related to customary forests.

Agung said that his party encouraged the Minister of Forestry to follow up on the collaboration of research on regional legal products that succeeded in mapping 461 regional legal products related to indigenous peoples with 2.9 million hectares of traditional areas that had been recognized in the regional legal product.

"We also ask the ministry to immediately follow up on 81 applications for customary forests that have been submitted by the customary forest coalition," he said.

It is hoped that the commitment related to the determination of customary forests will continue.

Direktur HuMa juga menilai terdapat hal yang bisa dilakukan sebagai langkah percepatan dan perbaikan.

He hopes that the commitment to determining customary forests will continue with the Minister of Transportation. In this case, it is said that acceleration and improvement steps are needed, including the need to revive customary forest pokja as a multi-party forum in traditional forest work.

"Policies to simplify the determination of customary forests that are accessible to MHA, then ensure that the revision of the Forestry Law can strengthen customary forests," he concluded.