People went on to use and acquire peatland by clearing, buying, and inheritance.
At the height of the peatland fires in the middle of the 1990s, people started largescale logging and distributed land among those who tended to plant oil palm. This
hastened peatland degradation and caused frequent fires.
Today people occupy vast areas of peatland classified as state forest as a result of
land acquisition. While some have the documents to certify their claim with
Sertifikat Tanah, SKT, and SKGK, many do not.
On the other hand, the Forest Act of 1999 prohibits people from cultivating and/or
making use of and/or occupying state forest areas illegally. No one besides the
timber companies in the research village obtained legal permission for the use of
state forests. Documents held by people in peatland classified as state forest area
were often not recognized by the government.
Such conditions have created insecurity around land titles in the peatlands. The
government issued regulations to settle the issue of land titles in the state forests by
changing the borders of the state forest area, exchanging land within and outside the
border, the social forest program, and resettlement. Social forest programs can be
applied on land that is a) controlled physically and openly by local people based on
good will, b) recognized by the customary community or the village head concerned
as well as by a credible people’s witness, c) not claimed by other people. The people
and land at the research site met these conditions; however, the local people have
claimed there are not many incentives to promote the social forestry program, which
has only been implemented on a limited scale. Recently the government issued new
regulations seeking to bring the customary forest and private forest on a par with the
state forest, but these changes have had little if no impact on the surveyed peatland
areas.
We can thus say that land tenure conditions in the peatlands in Riau have created
insecurity around land titles as well as peatland degradation. The social forest
program may hold the key to reversing the situation, but it remains an uphill battle.
References
Anoniem (1916) De panglong in de afdeeling Lingga der Residentie Riouw en Onderhoorigheden.
Tectona IX:932–951
Bloem JW (1939) Regelen voor het boschbeheer in de zelfbesturende landschappen in de
buitengewesten. Tectona XXXII:344–360
de Boer WAP (1939) Ontwikkeling van de productiemogelijkheden der bosschen in de
buitengewesten. Tectona XXXII:386–430
Departemen Kehutanan (1986) Sejarah Kehutanan Indonesia I Period Pra Sejaarh– Tahun 1942.
Departemen Kehutanan, Jakarta
Detikfinance (2005 May 2). https://finance.detik.com/berita-ekonomi-bisnis/d-586706/ekspor-cpori-digilas-gajah. Accessed 4 April 2020
Dheny TWS (2020) Integrated spatial analysis and community participation for tropical peat
ecosystem revitalization: case study on Tebing Tinggi Island, Riau province, Indonesia, Ph.D.
dissertation submitted to Kyoto University
648
K. Mizuno et al.
At the height of the peatland fires in the middle of the 1990s, people started largescale logging and distributed land among those who tended to plant oil palm. This
hastened peatland degradation and caused frequent fires.
Today people occupy vast areas of peatland classified as state forest as a result of
land acquisition. While some have the documents to certify their claim with
Sertifikat Tanah, SKT, and SKGK, many do not.
On the other hand, the Forest Act of 1999 prohibits people from cultivating and/or
making use of and/or occupying state forest areas illegally. No one besides the
timber companies in the research village obtained legal permission for the use of
state forests. Documents held by people in peatland classified as state forest area
were often not recognized by the government.
Such conditions have created insecurity around land titles in the peatlands. The
government issued regulations to settle the issue of land titles in the state forests by
changing the borders of the state forest area, exchanging land within and outside the
border, the social forest program, and resettlement. Social forest programs can be
applied on land that is a) controlled physically and openly by local people based on
good will, b) recognized by the customary community or the village head concerned
as well as by a credible people’s witness, c) not claimed by other people. The people
and land at the research site met these conditions; however, the local people have
claimed there are not many incentives to promote the social forestry program, which
has only been implemented on a limited scale. Recently the government issued new
regulations seeking to bring the customary forest and private forest on a par with the
state forest, but these changes have had little if no impact on the surveyed peatland
areas.
We can thus say that land tenure conditions in the peatlands in Riau have created
insecurity around land titles as well as peatland degradation. The social forest
program may hold the key to reversing the situation, but it remains an uphill battle.
References
Anoniem (1916) De panglong in de afdeeling Lingga der Residentie Riouw en Onderhoorigheden.
Tectona IX:932–951
Bloem JW (1939) Regelen voor het boschbeheer in de zelfbesturende landschappen in de
buitengewesten. Tectona XXXII:344–360
de Boer WAP (1939) Ontwikkeling van de productiemogelijkheden der bosschen in de
buitengewesten. Tectona XXXII:386–430
Departemen Kehutanan (1986) Sejarah Kehutanan Indonesia I Period Pra Sejaarh– Tahun 1942.
Departemen Kehutanan, Jakarta
Detikfinance (2005 May 2). https://finance.detik.com/berita-ekonomi-bisnis/d-586706/ekspor-cpori-digilas-gajah. Accessed 4 April 2020
Dheny TWS (2020) Integrated spatial analysis and community participation for tropical peat
ecosystem revitalization: case study on Tebing Tinggi Island, Riau province, Indonesia, Ph.D.
dissertation submitted to Kyoto University
648
K. Mizuno et al.