Local policy-making mechanisms - Forest Climate Center

Sudirman, Dede Wiliam and Nely Herlinarelative access levels from highest to lowest asfollows:- Highest, central government Executive,the provincial and District GovernmentExecutives and the respective parliamentsat all levels of government;- Second, universities, business owners,subdistrict governments;- Lowest, NGOs working closely with thecommunity, i.e., Walhi, JIC Justice Jambi,the village government, BPD, adat leadersand village communities who live closeto resources, and the police and military(TNI) who have the power to implementthe permit system in the field.In Tanjabbar, the government (central,provincial and district) and the legislaturehave the most influence over decision makingunder decentralization. However, the businesscommunity also exerts great influence overpolicy making. This group has very closeties with the policy makers, as is clear fromthe fact that the authority to issue small-scaleconcessions lies in the hands of the districtgovernment. PSHK-ODA, as an NGO focusingon policy making, also has significant access tothe processes in Tanjabbar and has close tieswith the executive and legislative branches, aswell as the village institutions and other NGOs,in its effort to advocate for positive reforms2.5 Profile of Tanjabbar DistrictTanjung Jabung District was divided into twonew administrative districts, Tanjabbar andTanjabtim (Tanjung Jabung Barat, or WestTanjung Jabung, and Tanjung Jabung Timur,or East Tanjung Jabung) on 4 October 1999 9 .Kuala Tungkal was designated as the capitalcity of the new District of Tanjabbar, whichwas sub-divided into five new subdistricts(Tungkal Ulu, Merlung, Tungkal Ilir, Betaraand Pengabuan) 10 . The new district has apopulation of approximately 221 671 andcovers a total area of 5 503.5 km 2 .Despite extensive deforestation under theNew Order government, Tanjabbar still has oneof the largest remaining areas of forest in Jambi.The most extensive forest cover is found in thesubdistrict of Tungkal Ulu, which provides awatershed for the Pengabuan River, whichflows into Kuala Tungkal. Based on Tanjabbar’s‘Strategic Plan for Forest Development’ 11 the257 344 ha of forest land in Tanjabbar Districtare officially classified as follows:a. Protected forest/Protected peat forestb. National Park (BukitTigapuluh National Park)21 494 ha9 900 hac. Limited Production Forest 45 650 had. Production Forest 177 300 hae. Community Forest Park(Taman Hutan Rakyat)3 000 haHowever, these official classifications arequite different from the data held by JambiProvincial Forestry Office (1999) 12 , whichstates that the forest area in Tanjabbar Districtis approximately 210 291.16 ha in area. Basedon this provincial data, forests in Jambi areclassified differently as: Nature Reserve andConservation Areas (Hutan Suaka Alam/HSA),Preservation Forests (Hutan Pelestarian Alam/HPA), Protected Forests (Hutan Lindung/HL),Limited Production Forests (Hutan ProduksiTeratas/HPT) and Production Forests (HutanProduksi Tetap/HP), as can be seen in Table 1,below.The difference in the official data heldby Jambi Provincial Forestry Office andTanjabbar District Forestry and EstateCrops Offices is difficult to understand. It istechnically impossible that the forest coverin Tanjabbar actually increased between 1999and 2002 (from 210 291.16 ha to 257 344 ha).This would be possible only if the TanjabbarDistrict Government had not allowed anyforest exploitation and at the same carried outextensive reforestation. In reality, accordingto the annual report of Tanjung Jabung BaratDistrict Forestry and Estate Crops Office(Tanjung Jabung Barat District Forestry and9