FLEGT in Indonesia
Indonesia and the EU agreed to enter formal negotiations in Brussels on 8 January 2007. The Hon. M.S. Kaban, Minister of Forestry of Indonesia and the European Commissioners Louis Michel and Stavros Dimas, responsible for Development and Environment respectively were present.
The first formal negotiations between Indonesia and the European Union on a FLEGT VPA took place in Jakarta from 29 to 30 March 2007. The Indonesian delegation consisted of representatives from a range of forestry sector stakeholders, including government officials from the Ministry of Forestry and other ministries, civil society and the timber industry. The EU delegation included officials from the EC, the German Presidency of the EU, and the UK government.
During the FLEGT-VPA negotiation the delegations exchanged views on Indonesian forestry and clarified their expectations for the VPA process. Important elements of the VPA such as the objectives and the scope were discussed. The EC Delegations agreed to establish two working groups to identify and formulate recommendations on necessary steps towards the conclusion of the VPA.
After this it was very quiet for two years until in 2009 the Indonesian government suddenly moved forward again with the VPA. A legality definition that was agreed by all parties in 2007 was passed into law. The definition is already publically available in Bahasa and English (see the Indonesia Ecolabelling Institute's (LEI) website)
The timber licence assurance system (LAS) covers Sustainable Forest Management Assessment, not only legality verification. In Indonesia the LAS is known as SVLK and was enacted through Ministerial Regulation No. 38 (‘Permen 38’) in June 2009. Indonesia Civil Society sent a joint letter in response to the Regulation, raising concerns over some credibility issues and loopholes found in the Regulation. They have asked that the government postpone implementation.
Following the letter, the government held a multi-stakeholder consultation to further develop implementation of Permen 38, establishing three working groups on capacity building, socialisation/outreach and monitoring and evaluation. Several consultations were held both before and after meetings of the technical working groups. Resulting papers include one called “DG Regulation P. 02” which gives implementation guidelines for the SVLK.
Discussions at the third technical working group in Jakarta March 2010 included: Independent Monitoring; Licensing Schemes; Verification and Enforcement Responsibilities; Control and Supply Chain; Linkages between Sustainable Forest Management and Legality Verification Standard.
In June 2010 the Ministry of Forestry put forward a bill to ensure that sustainable forestry management evaluations use the legality standards in SVLK. This was in response to efforts to try and ensure linkages between sustainable forest management and the SVLK.
Indonesia’s proposal is to create a secretariat that will function as a hub of information and stimulate networking among civil society organisations (NGOs and Indigenous Peoples’ Organisations). Complaints can be presented to this secretariat by any monitoring NGO or body, as long as the information is valid and the monitoring is conducted according to the guidance and code of conduct currently being developed.