Jakarta, May 24, 2016: Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya received a working group led by the Norwegian Ambassador to Indonesia, Stig Traavik, in her office at the Manggala Wanabakti compound in Jakarta early this week, hours before the minister left for Nairobi to attend the UNEA-2 sessions.

Several important issues discussed included tight controls of future forest and land fires, restorating damaged peatlands, and related programs such as the REDD+ and the Indonesian president’s directive for moratoria toward oil palm plantation and coal mine concessions. 

Minister Siti Nurbaya described the various systematic and structured steps already put in place by the Indonesian government to control future forest and land fires this year. The Minister reiterated that hotspots up to end of May 2016 are now only 31 percent of the figure reached in the same time period in 2015. In fact, several areas such as Riau now only have 20 remaining hotspots compared to the same timeframe last year. This shows that the systems established are yielding concrete results, right down to the grassroots areas, with the support of the Indonesian Army, the Police Force, the BPBD, the MoEF firefighters and civil society, particularly after the presidential directive, she said.

Minister Siti added that these efforts were being established in tandem with increased steps to enforce laws and regulations, covering administrative, civil and criminal codes.

Ambassador Traavik stated his appreciation of these efforts. He lauded the Indonesian government’s steps to control forest fires in 2016 and the improved overall management of forestry in general. The Ambassador took the opportunity to convey the progresses made between Indonesia and Norway, and mentioned that on June 14-15 a REDD+ Exchange meeting will be held attended by ministers of several countries. He invited Minister Siti Nurbaya to attend. He also mentioned that in September 2016, Phase II of the program will begin.

In relation to this, the Indonesian government is intensively discussing two Draft Government Policies (RPP), the RPP for Economic Instruments and the RPP on Public Service Bodies (BLU). The Minister expressed her expectation that the two draft policies will become the reference used in the Phase II implementation. The Minister said she was confident the two regulations will be drawn up expediently.

In the meeting, Minister Siti was flanked by her echelon 1 and echelon 2 high ranking officers.