In response to this and other NGO pressure, the Government of Indonesia established its own forest certification scheme – Lembaga Ekolabel Indonesia – in 1993. In 1998, LEI was officially established as a foundation and since then has conducted several certification assessments. LEI and FSC have also developed a Joint Certification Protocol (JCP) that obliges FSC to use both LEI and FSC criteria and indicators when conducting an assessment of a forest management operation. Despite its early arrival, poor forest practices, ineffective government policies, and forest-related conflicts over indigenous peoples’ land rights have hindered certification’s development in Indonesia. While many challenges remain, a few positive effects of certification have been noted. These include the establishment of a government incentive for companies to pass LEI certification, an increased willingness of companies to engage in public consultation, and the opening up of political space for NGOs and communities to express their concerns.
Although its market-driven elements are often emphasized, forest certification actually encompasses much more: certification encourages collaboration, facilitates conflict resolution, builds confidence and trust, promotes partnership, and promises a premium price. These elements of a vision of what certification can achieve are a challenge to both private and communal forest managers. The implementation of certification in Indonesia has many unique features. Initially, not many parties welcomed the certification idea.However, international pressure, including boycotts of Indonesian wood products in Europe and the U.S., pushed forest certification onto the national forestry agenda. The Government of Indonesia (GoI) developed an interest in certification as a result of its participation in the ITTO and the 1992 Earth Summit.
At the ITTO, several meetings concluded in 1990 with a commitment by member states to achieve the sustainable management of natural tropical forests by the year 2000. Similarly, the non-binding Forest Principles adopted at the Earth Summit in 1992 put sustainable management of tropical forests on the agenda. The issue was made more urgent by growing environmental activism in North America and Europe demanding consumers to boycott tropical timber products. In response, the Indonesian government established its Standard and Criteria of SFM2, which were fully supported by a private sector organisation (APHI or Asosiasi Pengusahaan Hutan Indonesia/Indonesia Forest Concessionaires Association), which was similarly concerned about market access.
Indonesia’s interest in certification as a way to achieve SFM was also stimulated by an international non-governmental organization (NGO) called the Rainforest Alliance, which introduced SmartWood Certification Program into the country when it assessed Perum Perhutani’s teak operation on Java in 1990. Simultaneously, SmartWood built up contacts with local NGOs including LATIN (Lembaga Alam Tropika Indonesia /Indonesian Tropical Institute).While NGOs generally supported the idea of certification, some such as WALHI (Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia/ Indonesian Forum for Environment) and SKEPHI (Sekretariat Kerja Pelestarian Hutan Indonesia/Working Secretariat for Indonesia Forest Conservation), questioned its feasibility in the Indonesian forestry context, where poor forestry and significant corruption existed alongside serious conflict with indigenous peoples.
With a variety of views about certification circulating, a Kelompok Kerja Sertifikasi Lembaga Ekolabel Indonesia/LEI (Certification Working Group of Indonesia Ecolabel Institute) was established in 1993 led by Emil Salim. The timing suggests that forest certification in Indonesia was also in part a response to the establishment of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which had a founding meeting in Toronto, also in 1993. In the early years of its existence, the LEI working group concentrated on system and standard development; in 1998, however, the working group officially became the Lembaga Ekolabel Indonesia, an independent accreditation body. The development of the LEI national standard raised the issue of its relationship with FSC. Although FSC was widely accepted by international markets, Indonesian stakeholders involved in LEI insisted that any Indonesian certification assessment should use the LEI system. The situation encouraged FSC and LEI to co-operate and, since 1998, all certification activities in Indonesia’s natural forests have been done using both systems under a Joint Certification Protocol (JCP). This arrangement is supported by GTZ, the German donor agency. Certification has been underway in Indonesia for about 10 years and considerable difficulties have been encountered. Challenges include a problematic external environment composed of inconsistent government policy, poor law enforcement, and corruption.
This tough external environment, coupled with some high-profile cases of certification withdrawal, have encouraged detractors to conclude that certification cannot work in Indonesia unless there are fundamental changes in existing arrangements, in particular land tenure arrangements and the policy environment.However, in our view, this is an overly pessimistic conclusion.We believe that certification can make a practical difference at the level of the management unit and that it is assisting a modest number of companies to improve their performance.
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