Green Assembly Asia Environment:Climate Change

Self-Description slightly edited October 2008

THE Jikalahari Forest Rescue Network of Riau was set up because deforestation had reached a critical point. There were floods and droughts in Riau. The forest couldn’t take the environment imbalances any longer.

Jikalahari is a consortium of 27 Riau-based environmental organisations that are actively promoting basic rights of forest-dependent communities through any efforts to save and protect the forest in Riau Province and prevent unnecessary global warming and climate change. 

Various forest activity that have happened are threatening the very existence of the forests in Riau. Some 368 legal entities were operating in Riau forests by 2003. They had raw material needs of about 23.5 million cubic metres per year. It was a massive threat to Riau forests which could only sustainably provide about 7.5 million m3 .

Excessive demand by the forest industry has led to illegal practices.

In addition to the forest industry sector, the heaviest pressures on the forests of Riau are from the palm oil plantation sector. The Riau provincial government targeted palm oil plantation development of 3 million acres and the new plants about 1.4 million acre realization from 2.4 million acres of land.

Almost all of the palm oil plantations in Riau have been developed by converting natural forest.

Structure
Jikalahari is an organization, and a forum, founded on February 26 2002 in Pekanbaru. Jikalahari is registered at the Pekanbaru State Court, as recorded by Notaries Rahmat Nauli Siregar, No. 05 on May 21, 2004.

Purposes and Principles
Jikalahari was founded to push the form of justice for and continuity of forest management in Riau by respecting the following values and principles:
Justice, independence, democracy, objectivity, transparency, participation, non-affiliation with any political party, human rights, non-affiliation with the destroyers of the environment, rule of law, supporting local wisdom in natural resource management, avoiding foreign debt and institutions or organizations that damage the environment, take the side of marginalised society and the native tribes of Riau.

Members
The following are members of Jikalahari:

Kabut Riau - WWF Gajah Riau Siklus - Forum Mahasiswa Peduli Hutan Risu - Kantor Bantuan Hukum Riau - Mafakumpala UIR Yayasan Aalam Sumatra Bali - Riau Mandiri - Mapala Phylomina - Mitra Insani- Laksana Samudra - Bunga Bangsa Badan Pengelolaan Agribisnis & Sumber Daya Perairan - Yayasan tropika - MPA Satwa Sahara - Kaliptra Sumatra - Brimapala Sungkai LPAD - Kelompok Advokasi riau - KPA EMC 2 - Mapala Suluh - Mapala Humendala Elang - Putra Bangsa Yayasan Tanah Air Sinergi Alam dan Pembangunan - Bangun Desa Payung Negri 

Activities
Jikalahari has actively carried out campaigns for peat swamp forest protection in Kampar Peninsular during the past six years. As part of their ongoing efforts, Jikalahari and the district governments of Siak and Pelelawan have signed off a memorandum of understanding to protect peat swamp forest in Kampar Peninsular. Jikalahari is actively involved in pushing the moratorium policy to prevent the conversion of forests and peatlands in Riau province.

Notes
Illegal logging activity in Riau has happened because of weak control systems and lack of law enforcement in Indonesia and also because of the existence of local market that needs timber.

It is estimated that more than 70 percent of wood circulating in the local market or being exported has been sourced from illegal logging activity. Consequently the state is losing billions of rupiah every year. 

By the activities above that caused Riau forest to be damaged so badly, the Riau forestry authority said in 2004 that there was only 1.5 million acres of Riau forest left, or 17.5 percent of the total 8.6 million acres of the mainland of Riau province after it was divided into two provinces in 2003.

By the reality above, every effort is needed to save the remaining natural forest. To avoid further losses, society and the Riau provincial government had to act. The formation of Forest Rescue Network Riau (Jikalahari) is to deal with the problems that threaten the survival of Riau’s natural forest.

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