Social forestry proposed to become National Strategic Project

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Forestry Ministry has proposed restoring the social forestry program as a National Strategic Project to expand community empowerment, reduce extreme poverty and create new income opportunities, Deputy Forestry Minister Rohmat Marzuki said.

Marzuki said the proposal aligns with Presidential Instruction No. 8 of 2025 on accelerating poverty reduction and eliminating extreme poverty.

"The President instructed the forestry minister to expand community empowerment for poor and extremely poor groups through social forestry. This is very important," Marzuki said on Saturday.

He said approvals for social forestry areas across Indonesia have reached about 8.4 million hectares.

The ministry has also designated about 368,877 hectares as customary forests through its task force for accelerating customary forest recognition.

"The government is committed to expanding these achievements," he said.

Marzuki said a new regulation has created economic opportunities through carbon trading based on forestry-sector greenhouse gas emission offsets.

He said the regulation allows communities in social forestry and customary forest areas, not only private companies, to participate in carbon trading.

"We must ensure the benefits of carbon trading are enjoyed not only by the private sector and investors but also by communities living around forests," Marzuki said.

He also stressed the need to increase the number of field facilitators to match the growing number of approved social forestry areas.

"The Forestry Ministry will continue working with various stakeholders, including expanding Integrated Area Development initiatives in different regions," he said.

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Translator: Arnidhya, Kenzu

Editor: Rahmad Nasution

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