SETAPAK NEWS In this issue:

Introduction of partners

Freedom of information

Recent successes

Supporting communities

High Conservation Value Forests

Monitoring and reporting violations

Emerging regions

SETAPAK research

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National Partners

National partners ICEL, FOINI, ICW,

Seknas Fitra, HUMA, FWI, INFID-

IWGFF, SILVAGAMA and EPISTEMA

have continued their partnership with

SETAPAK in a range of different gov-

ernance issues. An explanation of their

specific roles in partnership with

SETAPAK is on the following page.

The Asia Foundation First Edition. February 2014.

Regional Partners

South Sumatra: WBH, Walhi and PINUS operate throughout 5 districts in

South Sumatra, predominately focusing on promoting access to information by

requesting information to local government and assisting local government to

establish information management and services unit (PPID).

West Kalimantan: Gemawan, Titian, Jari and Sampan support local commu-

nities to understand their rights, reclaim former mining sites, and pursue infor-

mation related to forest and land use in 6 districts throughout West Kalimantan.

East Kalimantan: STABIL, Menapak, Prakarsa Borneo and Bumi/Jatam facil-

itate a range of activities in the province including: requesting Environmental

Impact Assessment (EIA) documents, developing CBFM and holding public

seminars to educate communities about their land rights.

North Kalimantan: Stabil and PADI are protecting the rights and villages of

indigenous and local communities throughout North Kalimantan by introducing

CBFM and drafting policy regulations.

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Below is a brief description of the governance issues SETAPAK’s

national partners are involved in…

The Asia Foundation First Edition. February 2014.

National Partners

National Partner Activity

ICEL Land and Forest Governance Index; permit compliance review; supply-side Freedom of Information inputs.

Seknas FITRA Analysis and advocacy of regional government budgets (with local partners); demand-side FoI procedures and pursuance of grievances; transparency index (a sub-set of the Land and Forest Governance Index).

ICW Investigation and capacity building of local NGOs to investigate LULUCF-related cor-ruption; policy research and advocacy on modes of corruption in forest permitting; legal examination of egregious policies.

FOINI Support to National Information Commission (NIC) – selection of new Commissioners; 2013-17 roadmap for new Commissioners.

HUMA Establish and train networks of community legal facilitators, provide legal assistance to communities on land-related issues, advocacy on governance issues, research on land tenure and livelihoods.

Forest Watch Indonesia

Compile database of forest cover and forest use, draft updated volume of the book ‘Snapshot of Indonesian Forest Conditions’, disseminate information, and build capaci-ty of CSOs on data management.

INFID - IWGFF

Encourage banking policy to support a sustainable forest and land governance: con-duct research, discuss and disseminate policy recommendation, develop Know Your Customer (KYC) Standard for banking institutions, and submit to Bank Indonesia. Strengthen law enforcement in forestry sector by using anti-money laundering law.

SILVAGAMA Developing the Indonesia Forest Monitoring initiative in collaboration with the Corrup-tion Eradication Commission KPK), consisting of regional outposts for collecting forest-related information and submitting reports of infractions.

EPISTEMA Oversight and capacity building for research grant scheme awardees.

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The Asia Foundation First Edition. February 2014.

Regional Partners

ACEH

WEST KALIMANTAN Gemawan Titian Jari Sampan

NORTH KALIMANTAN Padi STABIL

EAST KALIMANTAN STABIL Menapak Prakarsa Borneo Bumi/Jatam

SOUTH SUMATRA WBH Walhi PINUS CENTRAL SULAWESI

SCF Coalition KPPA coalition YTM/Jatam

The map below outlines where each regional partner is located across the four

provinces. The emerging provinces of Aceh and Central Sulawesi are also out-

lined.

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The Freedom of Information (FoI) Act (Law 14 of 2008)

became fully operational in 2010, requiring public

bodies to disclose public information. Implementation

of the law requires public bodies to nominate or em-

ploy information officers (PPID) to service requests

for information, and to develop standard operating

procedures (SOP) to clarify PPID functions. The law

also establishes regional information commissions

(KID), to support citizens to obtain information if pub-

lic bodies refuse to disclose information.

With the laws three major requirements in place,

partners can request public information, with the ex-

emption of categories of excluded information out-

lined in the law. Where public information is not

forthcoming, individuals requesting information can file grievance cases using the dispute

resolution or grievance mechanisms set out in the law, which includes mediation, non-

litigation adjudication and judicial appeals, including to the Supreme Court, as well as criminal

penalties for officials who fail to comply with information requests.

Each region is at varying stages of implemen-

tation of the FoI Act’s requirements. SETAPAK

is working on building the capacity of all re-

gions to successfully fulfill the requirements of

the FoI Act. ICEL provided further training on

the implementation of these grievance mecha-

nisms in December 2013. Local NGOs

PADI, Bumi/Jatam, Sampan, Lanting Borneo

and Walhi South Sumatra received this train-

ing. The table on the following page outlines

achievements related to the implementation of

FoI Act and how grievance cases were made.

SETAPAK News First Edition. February 2014.

Freedom of Information

The 2010 Freedom of

Information (FoI) Act man-

dates steps which

local governments must

undertake to

ensure

citizen’s right to

information

As well as training, public events have also been held to raise the awareness of FoI

requirements. JARI, held a seminar and workshop on FoI requirements in October

2013, which involved government, students and civil society organisations. FOINI,

the national campaigner for the FoI Act, also held the first “Right to Know Day” on

28th September. The event was held at Monas, where promotional material was dis-

tributed.

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SETAPAK News First Edition. February 2014.

Freedom of Information

Beyond these achievements, there are a number of other initiatives underway to implement the FoI Act: PINUS and WBH are assisting local district governments to draft SOP for the new PPID

officers in South Sumatra. In East Kalimantan, STABIL and Menapak are providing training and devising job descrip-

tions for PPID, and Bumi/Jatam and STABIL have been testing the FoI Act by requesting information documents.

Gemawan and Jari are assisting local government in drafting an SOP for PPID in West Kalimantan. Sampan has been requesting public information documents as well as sup-porting the recruitment of PPID.

Government level: (P) Province / (D) District

FoI issue

Partner Activity Progress

(D) Musi Banyua-sin, South Suma-tra

KID, SOP

WBH Assisted local government to operationalize proce-dures, in accordance with the FoI Act.

Two regulations have now been passed: District Head regu-lation no. 21 (2013) on Standard Operating Procedure for information officers (PPID). District Head regulation no. 23 (2013) establishing a District level Information Commission

WBH are assisting government agencies to categorise their documents in order to fulfil information requests.

(D) Bulungan, North Kaliman-tan

PPID, SOP

STABIL and Bumi/Jatam

Assisted the District Head to fulfill the requirements of the FoI Act. Advocated for passage of local policies related to FoI.

District Head regulation no. 20 (2013) was passed in July 2013, establishing PPID and setting out SOP for their role. District Head Circular Letter no. 501 (2013) released in Au-gust to instruct government departments to use the PPID for information requests. In November, STABIL and the District Head signed an MOU to cooperate in implementing the FoI Act.

(D) Kayong Utara, West Kalimantan

PPID Gema-wan

Assisted local government to draft local regulation to implement the FoI Act. Advocacy for passage of local policies related to FoI.

District Head requested support of Gemawan after it was lowest ranked in LFGI study, to improve their governance by developing a local regulation to implement PPID. Gemawan supported drafting of a local regulation, which was legalized October 31, 2013 as District Head regulation no. 342 (2013).

(P) South Suma-tra

Griev-ance

Fitra South Sumatra

Filed grievances related to unfulfilled budget infor-mation requests.

Lodged grievance case to the Supreme Court. Informed Pres-ident and Parliament of grievance. The provincial Environ-mental Agency finally relinquished data in the first week of October 2013.

(D) Samarinda, East Kalimantan

Griev-ance

Bumi/Jatam

Requested EIA for 63 mining companies; pursued griev-ance process to pressure municipal government to provide public information.

22 of the 63 documents requested now been provided by the Samarinda Environmental Agency. Bumi/Jatam has lodged a court case requesting the Administrative Court to instruct the Environmental Agency to provide the remaining documents.

Table. 1 Achievements related to implementation of FoI Act

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The recent success throughout Indonesia...

Seknas FITRA recently pursued a grievance case to the local

administrative court in relating to missing budget and EIA doc-

uments. While the court ruled in their favour, the documents

were not provided as there was no enforced time limit. The

data was eventually relinquished in October 2013 following a

ruling by the Supreme Court once the President became

aware of the situation.

Due to KOMPPAK’s persistence, on 7 November 2013, the

East Kalimantan Provincial Regulation passed a policy man-

dating and regulating post-mining reclamation including the

post-mining reclamation funds.

6 cases of corruption-related violations of LULUCF laws have

recently been reported to the Anti-Corruption Commission

(KPK) by ICW and Bumi/Jatam. These arose due to a lack of

law enforcement in the issuing of permits, bribes of a substan-

tial amount and land grabbing. KPK are currently investigating

two more cases involving tax evasion and bribes for permits.

Ongoing Disputes

With support from STABIL and Seknas Fitra, Bumi/Jatam have pursued 63 coal mining companies

to provide EIA’s through the Provincial Information Commission. When the environmental agency

missed the one month deadline, Bumi/Jatam took the case to the local administrative court which

ruled that the local government had 8 days to comply with the request. Bumi/Jatam have currently

received 22 of the requested documents. Once all have been received these will be used to sup-

port communities in decisions related to land use.

In a dispute between partners and the Ketapang district government, West Kalimantan, over 35

public documents related EIA, logging, mining and planning concessions, which is likely to be re-

solved in the coming months through the district level information commission (KID).

KOMPPAK: Six NGO’s have formed a coalition called the Community Coalition for Mining Awareness (KOMPPAK) in East Kalimantan, which was initiated through a workshop.

KOMPPAK specifically focuses on the reclamation of land that has been mined in East Kali-mantan, where mining is on the increase and regulation is weak. Through their work with local communities they advise government officials on rele-vant policies and organise me-dia campaigns to advocate post-mining issues.

Recent Successes SETAPAK News First Edition. February 2014.

National Conference on Land and Forest Governance 17 – 19 December Seknas FITRA, together with the Indonesian Centre for Environmental Law (ICEL) and Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), held a conference event themed ‘Strengthening the Social Movement to Accelerate Land and Forest Governance’. The workshop launched a number of studies carried out by ICEL, Seknas Fitra and ICW, including a Budget Analysis on Land and Forest Governance, the Land and Forest Governance Index (see box p. 7), a Permit Compliance Review, and a study on Po-litico-Business Patronage in Land-based Industries. Each study was presented in a talk-show type format, with respondents from government, NGOs and academia who discussed the implications of

the studies and next steps for policy and governance reform.

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SETAPAK News First Edition. February 2014.

Support through Education

There have been range of support based programs to

communities and governments...

Support to Communities:

In East Kalimantan, Menapak trained community leaders from Kelay, Segah and Pesisir to better understand their customary land rights. Prakarsa Borneo has helped to facilitate Community Based Forest Management (CBFM), in the villages of Swan Lutung, Long Savo, Lusan and Muara Payang. Mapping of illegal logging activity will be the basis of establishing village level CBFM. In West Kali-mantan, Titian held a workshop for local community mem-bers, academics and government officials to discuss how to use and manage areas of non-forest areas (APL). Support to Governments:

In Kayong Utara, West Kalimantan the District Head re-quested Gemawan’s support to improve their governance. Gemawan supported the drafting of the policy to implement PPID through local regulation, which was legalized Oc-tober 31, 2013. PADI and Stabil, North Kalimantan, have worked with the government to develop the Bunlungan Dis-trict Regulation no 4 of 2013, which mandates the protec-tion of traditional people’s land in three villages; Sajau Me-tun, Jelari, and Sajau Pura. Wahli and WBH are continuing to educate South Sumatran local communities on their rights to access information, as well as developing CBFM initiatives.

Community based forest manage-

ment (CBFM).

There is evidence that CBFM slows deforestation and protects forest-based livelihoods. Partners are working with communities to establish CBFM pro-posals for village forest (hutan desa), community forest plantations (HTR), and community forests (HKM).

5 HTR sites are awaiting approval from the Ministry of Forestry in North Kali-mantan, while in South Sumatra Wahli and WBH are writing an objection let-ter, as the District Head appointed a company to manage an area of forest planned for CBFM, even after the Min-istry of Forestry approved an CBFM application for the site.

There are currently a further 7 pro-posed CBFM areas being finalised to submit applications for legal recognition as well as a number of advocacy ef-forts to increase public awareness.

The Land Forest and Governance Index (LFGI) was launched at the National Conference on Land and Forest Govern-ance (image at right).

The LFGI index measures quality of gov-ernance through transparency, participa-tion, accountability and coordination across issues such as spatial planning, implemen-tation of LULUCF-related government ser-vices, and land use and forest monitoring.

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High Conservation Value Forest SETAPAK News First Edition. February 2014.

“High Conservation Values (HCVs) are biological, ecological, social

or cultural values which are considered outstandingly significant or

critically important, at the national, regional or global level.”

STABIL have been continuing to develop associations with the palm oil private

sector, in an effort to protect high conservation value forests (HCVF).

On 1 November 2013, a workshop was held for palm oil stakeholders in East

Kalimantan on regulations related to certifying areas of HCVF. The workshop

aimed to illustrate the importance of involving local communities, which the

private sector has responded well to.

STABIL will partner with the East Kalimantan Plantation Agency to train more

stakeholders on implementing HCVF in palm oil concessions. STABIL will also

train local communities to monitor how palm oil companies protect HCVF.

STABIL also partnered with AMAN East Kalimantan, Nurani Perempuan, WWF and APKASINDO to present the results of research in the form of a poli-cy brief related to implementing HCVF in the palm oil plantation sector. The policy brief will be presented to East Kalimantan Plantation Agencies to pro-mote take-up of HCVF protection.

For more information on HCVF visit: http://www.hcvnetwork.org/ or http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/how_we_work/conservation/forests/tools/hcvf_toolkit/

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SETAPAK News First Edition. February 2014.

Monitoring and Reporting

National and regional NGO’s monitoring and reporting initiatives

Reporting

With support from SETAPAK, Silvagama are developing a reporting mechanism for forest and land use violations. “Indonesia Forest Monitoring” will allow local regional offices to supply data such as: concessions, maps, permits and EIA doc-ument. If the data is legitimate, the KPK will post it to the website (www.kpk.go.id/imh). KPK will pursue any data that is potentially corrupt.

In East Kalimantan, Bumi/Jatam has launched a complaints office to report natu-ral resource related violations. Reports can be made by SMS (0811 932 932), or through the website http://borneo2020.org/ or Facebook www.facebook.com/lapor.kasus

Monitoring

FWI is building a database to profile the forest of West Kalimantan, East Kali-mantan and South Sumatra. FWI along with ICEL will continue to pursue the Ministry of Forestry for land permit infor-mation in order to complete the data-base.

Sampan has created a website to report and upload photos, videos and other in-formation of activity not adhering to environmental law. Violations can be report-ed on the website http://www.siarkalimantan.org/ or via SMS (0821 5564 1617).

Gemawan held a seminar to promote media coverage of forest and land issues, in October 2013. Twenty-four senior representatives from all forms of media made a commitment to better cover environmental and social issues.

Gemawan has also developed spatial data sharing system as well as establish-ing a community forum to monitor forest and land use in Kapuas Hulu, through two seminars in October 2013.

ICEL has developed a land use compliance review tool which enables compre-hensive reviews of forestry, plantation and mining licenses, in order to identify gaps in compliance.

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SETAPAK News First Edition. February 2014.

Emerging regions

In the recent months SETAPAK has commenced funding to a coalition number of coa-

litions in Central Sulawesi and Aceh...

Central Sulawesi: The three coalitions operating in Central Sulawesi are hosted by the NGO’s; Sulawesi Community Foundation (SCF), Komunitas Peduli Perempuan dan Anak (KPPA) and Yayasan Tanah Merdeka (YTM), all of which focus on land governance. These organisations have similar aims, including; increased transparency of public information, ad-vocating for policy to consider natural resources, encouraging environmental law enforce-ment, strengthening public capacity through public participation and research and in-vestigate to effect public policy.

Aceh: The national NGO, Transparency International Indonesia (TII) are currently managing a grant for local coalition Koalisi Peduli Hutan Aceh (KPHA), to implement a program to pro-mote civil society organizations involvement in Aceh’s spatial plan preparation pro-cess. Due to the increased threat of deforestation in the area, SETAPAK will support local initiatives that promote increased community involvement in land based spatial planning.

Research program

To support the contribution of the research sector to policy making, SETAPAK initiated a competitive research grants program to fund provincial based research institutions to conduct research on topics that explore connections between weak governance and drivers of forest loss and peatlands degradation at the sub-national level in Indonesia. Epistema Institute, a research organisation with expertise on environmental governance issues is working to sup-port the research program by providing a quality control function and supporting a review sys-tem for research grantees.

SETAPAK News First Edition. February 2014.

Research program

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Research grants program grantees and research topics

Other studies underway

Four studies on implications of different types of concessions. Sajogyo Institute implementing a research program which supports local researcher-activists to study the major land conces-sion types driving deforestation. The topics of the four studies are coal mining in East Kaliman-tan, palm oil concessions in West Kalimantan, timber plantations in South Sumatra, and eco-system restoration in Jambi.

State revenue loss related to extractive industries. Article 33 will conduct a study on state loss-es from the forestry and mining sectors, to evaluate revenue collection mechanisms to diag-nose where the loopholes are occurring. The study will focus on four districts: Musi Banyuasin in South Sumatra, Bulungan in North Kalimantan, Kutai Kartenegara in East Kalimantan, and Ketapang in West Kalimantan.

Analysis of indigenous tenure issues and forest and agrarian rights. INSIST is currently under-taking two studies. One is related to indigenous tenure issues, and analyses the impacts of Constitutional Court decision 35/2012 which revised the Forestry Law to strengthen recogni-tion of customary rights to forests. The second is more broadly on issues of forest and agrari-an rights.

To provide feedback on this newsletter or ideas for future newsletters please contact Tessa Toumbourou at tessa.toumbourou@asiafoundation.org

Research institution Research topic

Centre for Wetlands People and Biodivesity, Tanjungpura Univer-sity, West Kalimantan

Evaluating how the conservation district policy was communicated to the public in Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan

Swandiri Institute, West Kaliman-tan

Actor mapping: a case study of actors involved in decisions related to converting forested areas to palm oil plantations in West Kalimantan

Kalimantan Nature Conservation, West Kalimantan

Mapping high conservation value forest in palm oil plantation concession areas in Sintang, West Kalimantan

Perkumpulan PENA, West Kali-mantan

Understanding community management practices for mangroves in Ku-bu Raya, West Kalimantan

Prakarsa Borneo, East Kaliman-tan

Legal implications of permitting for coal mining in the state forest zone in East Kalimantan

Centre for Social Forestry, Mula-warman University, East Kali-mantan

Integrating local communities into management systems for the Forest Management Unit (KPH) in Berau, East Kalimantan

Pemali, South Sumatra Implementing mechanisms for Forest Management Units (KPH): case study of the Lakitan Production KPH, South Sumatra

Spora, South Sumatra Understanding and overcoming agrarian conflict in Musi Banyuasin, South Sumatra