Local policy-making mechanisms - Forest Climate Center

Sudirman, Dede Wiliam and Nely Herlinaregulation is approved and adopted as a districtregulation. It is very rare for a draft not to bepassed at this stage. For example, the districtforestry regulations were passed automaticallyon 2 December 2002. All 16 drafts consideredthat day were approved under a single DistrictParliament Decree, No. 10/2002 on theApproval of 16 Draft Regulations.Session notes or minutes from theseplenary sessions have never been publicized ordistributed to other stakeholders. Publicationis important and beneficial because: (1) localpeople are privy to the historic processes oflocal decision making; (2) it becomes a sharedlearning experience, as parliamentary memberscan learn from previous experience and publicinputs; and (3) the public can read and assessthe performance of their representatives inparliament.Methods for district policy making inTanjabbar leave very little room for publicparticipation. As very few amendments are evermade to proposed drafts, this means that theinitiators’ interests heavily influence the finalregulation. Little attention is paid to substance,or to whether the regulation is consistent withregulations for other sectors, therefore newregulations are needed allowing active publicparticipation at all stages, from policy initiationto implementation.Ideally, a more comprehensive processmight allow inputs from the public about onthe-groundissues such as how deforestationcontributes to chronic flooding problems, ashortage of village firewood and future buildingmaterials, and less land for smallholderagriculture as forest areas are converted toother uses.4.2 Forestry Permit IssuanceProcess in Tanjabbar4.2.1 Application procedures forobtaining IPHHKR and IPHHKTpermitsThe formal and informal procedures forobtaining Permits to Use Timber Forest Productsfrom Privately Owned Forests (IPHHKR) andPermits to Use Timber from Privately OwnedTimber Plantations (IPHHKT) are outlinedbelow.a. The formal procedureFollowing the formal procedure, applicantsmust fulfil several requirements 49 and gothrough a long, complicated procedure lasting1–3 months or more. Those who follow theformal procedure are usually new to the timberbusiness, and are applying for the first time.They have to follow 16 steps:1. A request must be submitted to the DistrictHead through the Economic SectionHead 50 of the District Secretariat with acopy to the Head of the District Forestryand Estate Crops Office;2. The Economic Section (Bagian Ekonomi)forwards the request to the District Head’sAssistant II;3. The District Head’s Assistant II forwardsthe request to the District Secretary;4. The District Secretary forwards the requestto the District Head;5. The District Head recommends that theDistrict Forestry Office conduct a fieldcheck;6. The results of the field check are reportedto the District Head with recommendationson whether to approve the permit. Fieldchecks observe the following:a) Status of the location: whether or notit is inside an area covered by otherpermits. If the proposed locationis inside an area covered by otherpermits, the permit application willbe rejected.b) The timber production inventory, itsdensity and potential harvests.c) The distance to the permit location.The applicant must pay the districtforestry official for transport andaccommodation costs incurred duringthe site check. The relevant section ofthe District Head’s Decree 51 does notclearly specify the amount that shouldbe paid for field checks. This opens25