JAKARTA - Today ten Indonesian forest concessions in Kalimantan, totaling more than half a million hectares, joined The Borneo Initiative (TBI) and committed to work toward FSC certification of their forest management. These new additions bring The Borneo Initiative membership to 27 companies since its inception in 2010, and mark an important milestone of 3 million hectares of concessions in progress toward FSC certification.

“We welcome The Borneo Initiative’s works to promote sustainable forest management in Indonesia”, said Iman Santosa, Ministry of Forestry’s Director General of Forest Production. “This is a significant step forward to help the business sector to meet important requirements of international buyers on responsible timber.”

”WWF Indonesia is proud to be part of today’s announcement, as more than 85 percent or about 480 thousand hectares of concessions that recently join TBI are located in and around the Heart of Borneo area. This represents a very significant milestone for sustainable forest management and illustrates the key role that the business sector plays in driving a real green economy in one of the world’s richest biodiversity areas,” said WWF – Indonesia CEO Dr. Efransjah.

”The Government of Indonesia is in the process of designating the Heart of Borneo as a National Strategic Area (KSN), which means that economic growth activities need to be balanced with the carrying capacity of the natural environment. The forestry sector is therefore crucial to ensure sound implementation of responsible forestry practices in the Heart of Borneo, ” said Ir. Hartono, M.Sc, Vice Chairman of the National Working Group Heart of Borneo. ”Today’s announcement is also aligned with the recently published Presidential Regulation No. 3 /2012 on Kalimantan Spatial Planning, confirming 45% of Kalimantan for biodiversity conservation, protected areas and sustainable natural resource use”.

Just over a year after The Borneo Initiative became operational, three forest concessions received FSC certificates, covering 429,460 ha of natural forest. These 3 FSC certified concessions are held by PT Suka Jaya Makmur (171,340 Ha), PT Narkata Rimba (41,540 Ha) and PT Sarpatim (216,550 Ha). The success of FSC certification is the result of collaboration amongst partner organizations such as: TBI (The Borneo Initiative), APHI (Association of Indonesian Forest Concessions), TFF (Tropical Forest Foundation), WWF Indonesia’s GFTN (Global Forest and Trade Network), TNC (The Nature Coservancy), and FFI (Flora Fauna Indonesia).

Hans Widjajanto, President Director of PT Sarpatim said, “Exports are vital to our business, and our overseas networks want to ensure that they are sourcing from a responsible producer and avoid any undue import complications. FSC certification also makes a lot of business sense, with FSC certification we build stronger ties with our customers, against good prices.”

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Untuk informasi lebih lanjut,

• Rizal Bukhari, The Borneo Initiative’s Director Office, Indonesia, bukhari@theborneoinitiative.org
• Wisnu Rusmantoro, WWF-Indonesia’s National Coordinator of Heart of Borneo Program, wrusmantoro@wwf.or.id

Notes to editor:
About The Borneo Initiative
The Borneo Initiative is a non-profit foundation based in The Netherlands, dedicated to slowing down forest loss or degradation in the tropics, with special focus on Borneo. With offices in the Netherlands and Jakarta the assistance focuses on forest concessions which manage natural forest and promote sustainable management according to the principles and criteria of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The Borneo Initiative receives funding from the private sector - including construction companies as Royal BAM Group NV and Bouwfonds Property Development plus a number of housing associations, all important end-users of Indonesian timber. In addition, funding is received from the Dutch Government (Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative IDH) and private charities. www.theborneoinitiative.org

About Heart of Borneo
Heart of Borneo (HoB) is an initiative of Brunei Darusssalam, Indonesia and Malaysia based on the principles of conservation and sustainable development for the tropical highland forests in Borneo. The Heart of Borneo initiative’s goal is to preserve and maintain the sustainability of one of Borneo’s best remaining rain forests, for the walfare of present and future generations. Heart of Kalimantan or Jantung Kalimantan is Indonesian part of the Heart of Borneo. On February 12, 2007, the Government of Brunei Darusssalam, Indonesia and Malaysia declared a commitment to preserve and sustainably manage the Heart of Borneo area. The HoB area covers approximately 23 million hectares of ecological connected forest across three countries. Further information, please visit www.heartorborneo.or.id
 
About WWF-Indonesia
WWF-Indonesia is an independent part of WWF’s network and its affiliations and is a global conservation organization that works in 100 countries in the world. WWF-Indonesia vision is Indonesia’s biodiversity for the welfare of today and future generation. WWF-Indonesia mission includes: promotion of strong conservation ethics; awareness as well as action among Indonesian people; facilitation as multi stakeholders to protect biodiversity and ecological process in eco-regional scale; to advocate policy, regulation and law enforcement that support conservation; and conservation promotion for people’s welfare through sustainable natural resources. www.wwf.or.id