Social Forestry Proposed for Re-inclusion in National Strategic Programme

Deputy Minister of Forestry Rohmat Marzuki has stated that the government is proposing the social forestry programme be reinstated as a National Strategic Programme (PSN). Rohmat said the proposal is in line with Presidential Instruction Number 8 of 2025 concerning the Optimisation of Poverty Alleviation and the Elimination of Extreme Poverty. “The President has instructed the Minister of Forestry to increase community empowerment access for extremely poor and poor community groups through social forestry, so this is very important,” Rohmat said in a statement in Jakarta on Saturday. He added that the Ministry of Forestry is continuing to strengthen the social forestry programme, including by increasing budget allocations. Rohmat revealed that the total area of approved social forestry in Indonesia has currently reached approximately 8.4 million hectares. Additionally, the Ministry of Forestry, through the Task Force for the Acceleration of Customary Forest Status Determination, has designated around 368,877 hectares of customary forests. “The government is committed to continuing to expand these achievements,” he said. On a separate note, Rohmat mentioned that carbon trading regulations in the forestry sector open up new economic opportunities for communities. The regulation is stipulated in the Minister of Forestry Regulation Number 6 of 2026 concerning Procedures for Carbon Trading through Greenhouse Gas Emission Offsets in the Forestry Sector. According to him, the rule allows social forestry groups, including indigenous legal communities, to benefit from carbon trading, not just the private sector. “So this is an opportunity that we must push forward, where the benefits of carbon trading are not only for the private sector or investors but also for communities around forest areas,” he said. He also assessed that the number of field facilitators needs to be increased to keep pace with the acceleration of social forestry approval issuance in various regions. Rohmat emphasised that the Ministry of Forestry will continue to collaborate with various parties, including expanding the implementation of the Integrated Area Development scheme in several regions.