New Minister of Forestry Regulation on Forest Reclamation Guidelines

Minister of Forestry Regulation No. P.04/MENHUT-II/2011 on Forest Reclamation Guidelines (‘Regulation’) has been issued as further implementation of Article 51 (6) of Government Regulation No. 76 of 2008 on Forest Rehabilitation and Reclamation. The purpose of the Regulation is to provide guidelines for conducting forest reclamation, with the aim being the restoration of utilized forest areas back to their original function.

Forest reclamation is an effort to repair and restore the damaged land and vegetation in order to restore its functionality (Article 1 (22)). Pursuant to Article 2, such reclamation is integrated with mining activities and has to be conducted at the earliest possibility, without waiting for the entire mining operation to come to an end. The Regulation covers, among others, determination of location, planning, implementation, reporting, and sanctions.

The license (borrow and use permit) holder has to prepare reclamation plans, for the forthcoming 5 year period, or for the duration of mining (if shorter), which consist of, among others, forest area conditions (before and after the activities), forest reclamation program, technical arrangement, schedule of implementation, and a budget (Articles 10 and 11). The Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, governor, or regent/mayor will approve the reclamation plan prior to obtaining a recommendation from the Director General of Watershed and Social Forestry Management (on behalf of the Minister of Forestry).

Reclamation activities include: land arrangement, erosion and sedimentation management, re-vegetation, and maintenance. The reclamation activities have to be carried out pursuant to the approved plans and within the specified period of time. The reclamation of forests has to be completed at least 1 year prior the expiry of the license (Article 53 (1)). Implementation details of each reclamation activity are elaborated on in Chapter V.

The license holder has to submit a periodical report (quarterly and annually) upon the implementation of the reclamation activities to the Director General of Watershed and Social Forestry Management, with a copy to the Director General of Forest Planning, Director General of Mineral, Coal, and Geothermal, and the provincial and regency/city Forestry Technical Agency (Articles 76 and 77).  The periodical report had to be submitted in the form specified in Appendix 7.

The sanctions, pursuant to Article 79, consist of administrative sanctions and revocation of licenses. And are applicable to any license holder who does not carry out forest reclamation activities pursuant to the prevailing laws and regulations.

The Regulation repeals Minister of Forestry and Plantations Decision No. 146/Kpts-II/1999 on Reclamation Guidelines for Former Mining in Forest Areas.

The Regulation has been in force since 18 January 2011.