M4CR Drives Data Updating to Strengthen Forest and Land Rehabilitation Planning
The Ministry of Forestry, through the Directorate General of Watershed Management and Forest Rehabilitation (Ditjen PDASRH), is pushing for the acceleration of data updating for forest and land rehabilitation planning. This strategic move aims to respond to the dynamics of landscape changes while preparing for the revision of the General Plan for Forest and Land Rehabilitation of Watersheds (RURHL-DAS) and the formulation of the Annual Forest and Land Rehabilitation Plan (RTnRHL).
Secretary of the Directorate General of PDASRH, Muhammad Zainal Arifin, explained that based on Minister of Environment and Forestry Regulation Number 10 of 2022, the RURHL-DAS is the reference document for determining the direction and location of forest and land rehabilitation implementation. Consequently, all stages, from planning and site selection to monitoring and evaluation, are expected to refer to this document.
“This document is not merely an administrative requirement. All stages of planning, site selection, and monitoring and evaluation of forest and land rehabilitation are expected to refer to the RURHL-DAS to support the realisation of water security, food security, and hydrometeorological disaster mitigation,” said Zainal.
Zainal added that the dynamics of changing field conditions pose a challenge that needs to be anticipated in the planning process, such as the emergence of new open land due to certain causes. This necessitates periodic updating and synchronisation of the database to keep pace with these changes, while simultaneously complementing the consideration of socio-economic conditions of communities at the site level.
In addressing these challenges, the Directorate of Mangrove Rehabilitation, through the Mangroves for Coastal Resilience (M4CR) programme, is taking a strategic role in supporting the dissemination, coordination, and alignment of the RURHL-DAS, particularly in the four M4CR priority provinces: Riau, North Sumatra, East Kalimantan, and North Kalimantan.
This support is also strengthened through the preparation of RTnRHL documents at the Watershed Management Centres (BPDAS) as operational planning instruments to ensure that annual forest and land rehabilitation planning remains aligned with national policy directions, targets, and planning parameters.
“In addition to carrying out mangrove rehabilitation, we, together with the M4CR team, are also mapping the socio-economic conditions of local communities. This community-based approach is important to ensure the mangrove rehabilitation process considers the conditions and needs of the community, while supporting the updating of forest and land rehabilitation planning data,” said Director of Mangrove Rehabilitation, Nikolas Nugroho Surjobasuindro.
Looking ahead, the Director of Mangrove Rehabilitation stated that the validation of forest and land rehabilitation locations will be strengthened through the use of a Decision Support System (DSS) as a decision-making support instrument. Site determination will no longer be based solely on biophysical conditions and the level of land criticality, but will also consider governance through a comprehensive multi-criteria analysis.
This analysis includes overlaying data on land cover, the history of forest and land rehabilitation implementation, licensing areas, tenure aspects, and the potential for carbon scheme development. The integration of these various data and information sets is expected to improve the accuracy of site selection while supporting the sustainability of rehabilitation outcomes.
Through this harmonisation and data updating, the revision of the RURHL-DAS targeted for 2027 is expected to produce a planning document that is more current, implementable, and provides certainty in the execution of forest and land rehabilitation activities. As a follow-up step, M4CR will support the intensive implementation of Technical Guidance (Bimtek) in the four priority programme provinces. This activity is expected to enhance the capacity of stakeholders and accelerate the alignment and timely preparation of annual forest and land rehabilitation planning documents.