Under Prabowo's Order, Forestry Minister Hands Over Social Forestry Decrees in NTB

Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni presented Social Forestry Decrees to six Forest Farmer Groups (Kelompok Tani Hutan, KTH) in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB). The handover covers one KTH in West Lombok (Lombok Barat) and five KTHs in East Lombok (Lombok Timur), with a total managed area of 560.57 hectares to be utilised by 411 households.

‘We have been ordered by President Prabowo to accelerate the process of issuing social forestry decrees to uplift the welfare of communities while protecting our environment and our forests to be more sustainable,’ Raja Juli Antoni said, quoting him on Sunday (8/3). He hopes the handover can boost welfare for communities around the forest.

Raja Juli also described the six decrees as part of the government’s effort to provide legal access to communities to manage forest areas productively and sustainably. He noted that the legal access is expected to be managed productively while maintaining conservation. He urged the forest farmers to safeguard and implement the mandate.

‘So that the communities given legal access can maximise the mandate to be more productive, such as planting coffee, cocoa, or candlenut and so on,’ he said.

In addition, he noted that forest management under the social forestry scheme not only impacts local people’s economy but is also an important part of supporting the national food security programme. ‘This is part of our effort to improve the welfare of communities while contributing to our self-sufficiency in food, while at the same time protecting the sustainability of our forests,’ he stated.