Enviro News Asia, Jakarta – The Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency (ATR/BPN), through the Directorate General of Spatial Planning (Ditjen I), is working to implement spatial planning focused on a green economy through the Rimba Ecosystem Corridor Initiative. This program aims to preserve biodiversity while increasing carbon reserves in the Rimba landscape area.
According to Kompas.com, the Rimba Ecosystem Corridor covers 3.8 million hectares of protected areas in the provinces of Riau, Jambi, and West Sumatra. Director General of Spatial Planning at the Ministry of ATR/BPN, Dwi Hariyawan, emphasized that the program is vital to maintaining ecological balance and sustainable development.
Dwi explained that the Rimba Ecosystem Corridor program is urgent because more than 66 percent of the Rimba Corridor area has been converted into oil palm plantations. The plantation sector significantly contributes to land-use discrepancies, with 701,000 hectares, or 18.14 percent of the total area, undergoing inappropriate changes from its original purpose.
“The issue of deforestation, which has affected over 1 million hectares of forest area, along with various land-use conflicts, further complicates the situation,” Dwi stated in a press release.
Data from the Final Exposure of the Rimba Corridor Program shows that peatland deforestation from 1990 to 2022 reached 264,000 hectares, or 52 percent, while 2,879 hectares of forest were reported burned in 2023.
Land-use conflicts in the area involve multiple sectors, including forestry, mining, and plantations, as well as land rights issues concerning indigenous communities. This highlights the need for better cross-sector coordination, which remains suboptimal. “Intervention in green economy-based spatial planning is critical to ensuring sustainable production and consumption processes without harming the environment,” Dwi added.
More integrated and aligned spatial planning—between the National Spatial Planning (RTRWN), Island Spatial Planning (RTR Pulau), National Strategic Area Planning (KSN), and Provincial and Regional Spatial Planning—is essential to ensure the sustainability of strategic areas like Bukit Batabuh and Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park (TNBT). (*)
