Jakarta - Commemorating the International Anti-Corruption Day (HAKI) which falls today (9/12), the SIAP II consortium - consisting of WWF-Indonesia, TI-Indonesia and the Indonesia Working Group on Forest Finance (IWGFF) - again highlighted the issue of transparency and accountability in the management of the forestry sector in Indonesia. At this year's HAKI, SIAP II focuses on the results of a forestry management study conducted in Jambi Province by TI-Indonesia and the Jambi Environmental Legal Aid Foundation. The results of this study will be officially launched on December 20, 2014.

Chairman of SIAP II Consortium, Fathi Hanif, said, "The results of the research on Forestry Sector Licensing Services Study in Jambi show that forestry sector licensing in the province has various levels of corruption vulnerability, ranging from high, medium, to low risk. The licensing sector's corruption vulnerability is indicated by the tendency of high bribery, the quality of licensing bureaucracy, transparency, accountability, weak law enforcement and corporate governance, and political corruption (state capture)."

Meanwhile, SIAP II Anti-Forestry Crime Coordinator, Rivan Prahasya, said, "There is no other choice for the government - both the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, the Provincial Government and the District Government in Jambi - to build an anti-corruption system in its forestry licensing system. This is to ensure the fulfillment of the economic and ecological interests of forestry in a sustainable manner." Rivan also suggested that forestry sector entrepreneurs also build an anti-corruption system within their respective companies.

Through this research, SIAP II recommends the Jambi Provincial Government to strengthen forestry sector licensing governance through the implementation of anti-bribery policies, improving the quality of licensing bureaucracy, strengthening licensing transparency, strengthening licensing accountability, strengthening licensing law enforcement, strengthening corporate governance, and controlling political corruption.

The licensing system is one of the important pillars in forest governance in Indonesia. Strengthening the forestry licensing system will be a starting point towards forestry governance with integrity.

In conjunction with HAKI 2014, SIAP II, in collaboration with USAID and KPK, launched a public service announcement titled "Towards Indonesia with Integrity", which aired on several television stations and social media since December 7, 2014. The public service announcement aims to invite the public to take action in rejecting corruption, especially forestry corruption.

Note to Editor:
The public service announcement "Towards Indonesia with Integrity" can be viewed at http://bit.ly/1yxLddW.

For more information, please contact:
Dyah Ekarini, SIAP II Communications & Media Coordinator, drini@wwf.or.id
Rivan Prahasya, SIAP II Anti-Forestry Crime Coordinator, rprahasya@ti.or.id