Aceh Deputy Governor Muzakir Manaf has said he will provide full support for any ground level measures required for the enforcement of the moratorium on palm oil and mining expansion in the Leuser Ecosystem.

Muzakir, who is also chairman of Aceh’s most influential political party, the Aceh Party, further explained the moratorium was a good move to find best field-based solutions for protecting the Leuser Ecosystem in the future.

“There is no doubt that the moratorium will need to be enforced in the field, not just implemented on paper. I am ready to provide backing to any ground level efforts,” said the deputy governor in a Greenomics Indonesia press release.

Muzakir said safeguarding the welfare of the people living in the Leuser Ecosystem area should be a priority in the palm oil and mining expansion moratorium

“The Leuser Ecosystem represents a balance of various interests and perspectives. This balance must be achieved on the ground level. One of the most decisive factors in striking this balance is improving the welfare of people who have been living there for generations,” the deputy governor said.

He asserted one of the most important factors in enforcing the moratorium was to maintain consistency at the policy level. He warned the moratorium should encounter various obstacles in the field.

Consistency in the policy level in terms of the implementation and enforcement of the moratorium should be strong and rooted at the ground level, he went on. It meant balanced solutions, which was aimed at protecting the Leuser Ecosystem while at the same time improving the welfare of its approximately half a million inhabitants, should be sought.

"We need to reinforce the moratorium by strengthening monitoring, both by satellite and on the ground.  If violations are found during the moratorium, we will immediately conduct a comprehensive review of the background to these violations, which will then serve as input for finding better field-based solutions for protecting the Leuser Ecosystem in the long term," Muzakir said.

The Deputy Governor said he would meet with Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya to express his appreciation over the government’s decision on the moratorium and to discuss its ground level implementation.

Greenomics Indonesia executive director Vanda Mutia Dewi, said the Aceh deputy governor’s support was vital, particularly when it came to the implementation of the moratorium on the ground level and reinforced efforts to find field-based solutions to enhance the welfare of the people who lived in the Leuser Ecosystem.

“The Aceh deputy governor’s support is very necessary because the moratorium policy needs to be translated into ground level actions,” Vanda said. (ebf)

Source:
courtesy of THE JAKARTA POST

by The Jakarta Post

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