On September 19th, 2018, Indonesian President Joko Widodo officially signed a moratorium on oil palm plantation permits that is in force for three years. The moratorium is contained in Presidential Instruction Number 8 of 2018 concerning The Postponing and Evaluation of Oil Palm Plantation Licensing and Increasing the Productivity of Oil Palm Plantations.
The moratorium is aimed at solving problems common to the palm oil industry, such as oil palm plantations in protected forest areas, land clearing in High Conservation Value areas, and overlapping regulations. These problems commonly occur due to the absence of a land verification mechanism, the absence of a single map to guide the issuance of permits, and the lack of coordination between local governments and ministries / agencies in the process of issuing and controlling permits.
Palm Oil Moratorium Challenges:
- There is no specific budget allocation to implement the moratorium in all regions
- There are no technical guidelines for Local Governments
- The absence of a clear communication mechanism between the Central and Regional Governments
The following is a list of provinces with commitments to the palm oil moratorium according to data from the Civil Society Coalition for Improving Oil Palm Governance, Ministry of Agriculture:
East Kalimantan
Committed to the new permit moratorium
West Papua
Committed to the new permit moratorium
West Kalimantan
Committed to the new permit moratorium and evaluation of existing permits
Riau islands
Committed to the new permit moratorium and evaluation of existing permits
Riau
Committed to implementing a palm oil moratorium by using the new permit moratorium
Aceh
Committed to a moratorium on foreign investment in oil palm plantations