Forestry Law Reorganizes State Rights over Carbon

The government is discussing a Draft Bill on the Amendment to Law No. 41 of 1999 on Forestry, as most recently amended by Regulation of the Government in Lieu of Law No. 2 of 2022 on Job Creation (collectively referred to as “Forestry Law”). One of the proposals to the House of Representatives (“DPR”) is to change the concept of state control over carbon.

“The state’s right to control carbon should not replicate the state’s right to control land. That is what needs to be changed in the new law. So the state does not have the right to control carbon,” said Uli Arta Siagian, Forest and Plantation Campaign Manager at the National Executive of WALHI, to Hukumonline after a meeting with Commission IV of the DPR.

The aim is for the draft not to repeat the paradigm error of state rights over land, but rather to recognize the full authority of indigenous communities over carbon credit potential in their territories.

When the state recognizes indigenous communities' rights over a territory, authority over carbon potential in that area should be in the hands of the community. This includes the right to decide whether carbon credits from that area will be sold or not.

State control over carbon is also stipulated in Regulation of the President No. 98 of 2021 on the Implementation of Carbon Economic Value to Achieve Nationally Determined Contribution Targets and Control over Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Relation to National Development (“Regulation 98/2021”). Uli encourages the government to also revise this regulation so that it is in line with the draft forestry regulation.

“The regulation must be rearranged in the new law,” she said.