Enviro News Asia, Jakarta — The Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia has reinforced its commitment to strengthening Social Forestry Business Groups (Kelompok Usaha Perhutanan Sosial/KUPS) through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Cooperatives.
The MoU was signed in Jakarta on Tuesday (December 23, 2025) by Minister of Forestry Raja Juli Antoni and Minister of Cooperatives Ferry Juliantono. The agreement focuses on enhancing business institutions and human resource capacity within forestry-sector cooperatives, with particular emphasis on strengthening KUPS.
As of December 23, 2025, the Ministry of Forestry has granted forest management access to local communities through the Social Forestry program covering a total area of approximately 8.3 million hectares (8,323,671 hectares). This access has been formalized through the issuance of 11,065 Social Forestry Decrees, benefiting 1,420,189 recipients nationwide.
From these Social Forestry beneficiaries, a total of 16,403 Social Forestry Business Groups have been established across Indonesia. Data from the official Social Forestry KUPS platform show that, in 2025, KUPS activities generated a national economic value exceeding IDR 1.29 trillion.
Minister of Forestry Raja Juli Antoni emphasized that the collaboration aims to elevate KUPS to a more sustainable and formal business structure.
“We hope that this cooperation will transform the ‘K’ in KUPS from Kelompok (group) into Koperasi (cooperative), so that these entities evolve into Social Forestry Business Cooperatives,” he stated.
The MoU also supports the government’s national development priorities, particularly the second and third Asta Cita. These priorities include strengthening national resilience, food and energy independence, green and blue economies, as well as creating quality jobs, fostering entrepreneurship, developing creative industries, and improving infrastructure.
Minister of Cooperatives Ferry Juliantono explained that the MoU outlines concrete and strategic areas of cooperation. He noted that in 2026, the government targets the establishment of 80,000 village cooperatives, known as Koperasi Merah Putih, to reinforce grassroots economic development.
“In collaboration with the Ministry of Forestry under the leadership of Minister Raja Juli Antoni, we are prioritizing institutional strengthening and human resource capacity development for cooperatives in the forestry sector. As mentioned earlier, many Social Forestry business groups have yet to obtain formal legal status. We are fully prepared to assist KUPS in becoming legally established cooperatives,” Ferry Juliantono said.
In addition to the Ministry of Forestry, the Ministry of Cooperatives also signed similar Memoranda of Understanding with several other government institutions, including the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, the Ministry of Transmigration, and the Social Security Administering Agency for Health (BPJS Kesehatan), as part of a broader effort to strengthen inter-ministerial collaboration. (*)
