Enviro News Asia, Jakarta – Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry is preparing revisions to regulations governing forest product processing and marketing to accelerate downstream industrial development, increase the value of forest resources, and strengthen the competitiveness of the country’s forest products industry.
The planned amendments to Ministerial Regulation No. 8 of 2021 on forest management planning and forest utilization in protected and production forests are intended to align with Government Regulation No. 28 of 2025 while responding to evolving industrial trends, global trade dynamics, and the need for greater regulatory certainty in the forestry sector.
The initiative was announced by Erwan Sudaryanto, Secretary of the Directorate General of Sustainable Forest Management, during the opening of the sixth session of the National Webinar Series on Forest Utilization Transformation, titled Transforming Forest Product Processing to Support Downstream Development and Value Addition.
“Indonesia should not only be recognized as a country with one of the world’s largest tropical forests. It must also become a nation capable of managing its forest resources sustainably while transforming them into drivers of economic growth, job creation, investment, and public prosperity. That is the essence of downstream development,” Erwan said.
He explained that Indonesia’s forestry development paradigm is shifting beyond the traditional role of supplying raw materials for industry. Instead, sustainable forest management should generate higher value through competitive, innovative, and environmentally responsible processing industries that deliver broader economic benefits.
“Without sustainable forests, there can be no sustainable forestry industry. Without a secure supply of sustainably sourced raw materials, downstream development cannot succeed. This makes the Ministry of Forestry’s role in safeguarding forest sustainability even more strategic,” he said.
Erwan added that future forestry development should adopt a forest-based value chain approach by integrating forest management, harvesting, transportation, processing, distribution, marketing, and exports into a single ecosystem. Such integration, he said, would improve efficiency and competitiveness while meeting growing international demands for product legality, sustainability, and lower carbon footprints.
Ade Mukadi, Director of Forest Product Processing and Marketing Development, said the regulatory revision is designed to reflect changes in government authority following Government Regulation No. 28 of 2025 while strengthening oversight of legal, efficient, and sustainable forest product industries.
The revised framework is also expected to improve reporting, monitoring, evaluation, and regulatory supervision as part of broader efforts to strengthen forestry governance.
“We must implement good forest governance from upstream production to the marketplace to ensure sustainable raw material supplies while preserving forest resources,” Ade said.
He emphasized that stronger collaboration and a shared vision among stakeholders are essential to reinforcing Indonesia’s forest products industry and ensuring its long-term competitiveness.
Representing the Ministry of Industry, Acting Director of Forest and Plantation Industries RR. Citra Rapati said the transition of regulatory authority is being supported through data integration and interoperable digital systems.
“Value addition cannot be achieved without legal and sustainably sourced raw materials,” Citra said.
Ratih Damayanti, Director of Environmental, Maritime, Natural Resources, and Nuclear Policy at Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), highlighted technological innovation as a key driver of higher production efficiency, improved recovery rates, and the development of value-added forest products.
“Wood is an exceptional material whose advantages remain highly relevant for the future,” she said.
Meanwhile, Tjipta Purwita, Secretary of the Indonesian Forestry Community Communication Forum (FKMPI), identified several challenges facing the downstream wood industry, including raw material security, production efficiency, market certainty, licensing inefficiencies, geopolitical risks, changing global market requirements, and competition from substitute materials.
He called for fiscal incentives to support machinery imports, financing for modernization of wood processing facilities, regulatory reforms, stronger domestic procurement policies, enhanced implementation of Indonesia’s Timber Legality Assurance System (SVLK), improved market intelligence, export market diversification, greater flexibility in raw material use, stronger upstream-downstream partnerships, and continued development of industrial plantation forests.
The webinar attracted approximately 850 participants from government agencies, regional administrations, universities, industry, and other stakeholders. According to the ministry, feedback gathered during the event will help shape regulations that are practical, adaptive, and responsive to the evolving needs of Indonesia’s forest products industry.
Closing the event, Erwan urged all stakeholders to use the public consultation process as an opportunity to build a forestry industry that is both economically competitive and environmentally sustainable.
“Together, let us realize sustainable forest management through a competitive forest products industry that delivers the greatest possible value for the Indonesian people,” he said. (*)
