The Ministry of Environment and Forests (KLHK) and the Government of West Kalimantan Province invited key stakeholders of the province to participate in public consultations on the draft revision of Law No. 5/1990 on Natural Resources Conservation and its Ecosystems. The event, which took place from 21-22 March 2016 in Pontianak, was organized by KLHK in cooperation with the Provincial Government of West Kalimantan, the Community Forestry Communication Forum (FKKM), WWF-Indonesia, Fauna & Flora International (FFI) Indonesia, Yayasan Titian, and GIZ-FORCLIME.

During the consultations, the Minister's Special Adviser on Inter-Institutional Relations at KLHK, Ilyas Asaad, explained that "efforts to revise Law 5/1990 had already been initiated in 2003. Later, a multi-stakeholder writing team was formed to facilitate revision of the law". This team has produced an academic paper and a draft revision of Law 5/1990 on Biodiversity Conservation and its Ecosystems. In addition, the team has conducted a series of public consultations in several regions, such as: Java (Jakarta), Sumatra (Medan), Sulawesi (Makassar) and Papua (Jayapura).

Since Law no. 5/1990 had first been issued 26 years ago, Indonesia has undergone many developments. Therefore the law needs to be updated in order to accommodate for changed practices in natural resource conservation and management, in particular regarding community participation and the integration of local wisdom. In addition, the old legislation does not yet include genetic resources as a potential of biodiversity, which has to be managed as the object of conservation.

For further information, please contact:
Ismet Khaeruddin, Strategic Area Manager, Biodiversity and Management of Protected Areas, FORCLIME
Hayunieta, BKSDA Kalimantan Barat
Albertus Tjiu, WWF-Indonesia