The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve REDD Project

2. The Surayan Bupati has issued location permits for allfour oil palm estates. Copies of these permits wereobtained for PT Eka Sawit and PT Graha Indosawit(Annex 12)3. The Minister of Forestry has set a precedent ofissuing decrees allowing the conversion of productionforest and specifically issued a decree allowing theconversion of production forest in the buffer zone ofTPNP for the establishment of PT Kharisma UngguCentraultama, (Annex 13).4. The Central Kalimantan Governor has sent a letterto the Minister requesting that the four plannedfour estates in the Rimba Raya Project area bechanged from production forest to conversion status(No. 525/358/Ek tanggal 5 Maret 2005, copy of letternot available, but specifically mentioned inpresentation by Provincial Forestry Head).5. Response from the Minister to letter No. 525 wherehe is in basic agreement with the conversion butrequested that the Governor swap forest areas thatwere formally classified for conversion to production(Annex 14).presented their conclusions which included arecommendation that the status of ProductionForest areas that already possess an ‘ijin lokasi’should be changed to Conversion Forest. Thisincludes all four planned oil palm estates in RimbaRaya.7. During a March 2009 field visit to Rimba Raya, anewly dug canal and road were observedconnecting the PT Kharisma oil palm estate with theSeruyan River in the vicinity of Tanjung Hanua villageInstalling these canals is common practice in oilpalm estates to provide access to the estate, andallow for drainage of the peat swamp. Suchinfrastructure development facilitates expansion oftransportion corridors and ancillary land clearing,and its location at the southern end of theoperational PT. KUCC plantation and close to aSeruyan village indicates a drive for plantationdevelopment southward from KUCC.6. In February 2009, the Joint Spatial Planning Teamappointed to resolve the conflict between the 2006Provincial Spatial Plan and the MoF spatial plan,85