Tesso Nilo is Model for Regional Progress

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Encroachment on up to 80 percent of the territory of Tesso Nilo National Park in Riau has been resolved through a combination of agrarian reform and social forestry schemes that could become a model for resolving similar problems in other regions.

At the north and west side of  Tesso  Nilo National Park, there are remnants of concession areas of PT Siak Raya Timber (38,560 hectares) and PT Hutani Sola Lestari (45,990 hectares) whose forest permits have been revoked by the Environment and Forestry Ministry. The concession areas, which for the most part have been turned into oil palm plantation, can now be used for agrarian reform or as social forest.

“In a national park, the people (migrant farmers) must leave. However, we have prepared replacement land in the form of agrarian reform object land,” said Chalid Muhammad, a senior advisor at the Environment and Forestry Ministry in Jakarta on Wednesday (19/4).