The area of oil palm plantations in Indonesia has now reached 22.2 million hectares (Sawit Watch, 2018) with 30% owned by farmers. The palm oil industry currently has a major contribution to the national economy, with exports of crude palm oil (CPO) reaching 12% of national exports with total production in 2016 reaching 31 million tons. The export contribution reached US $ 17.8 billion or equivalent to Rp231.4 trillion. Domestically, the use of biodiesel fuel sourced from palm oil is increasingly being intensified by the Government of Indonesia. The government itself targets CPO production to 40 million tons / year in 2020.
In addition, oil palm plantations in Indonesia have a variety of problems ranging from environmental damage, agrarian conflicts, neglected labor conditions, threats to food availability and others. Sawit Watch (2016) notes that there are 782 communities in conflict with large oil palm plantations.
President Joko Widodo on April 14, 2016 stated that he would temporarily suspend (moratorium) on palm oil and coal licensing. This commitment was finally realized in a policy in the form of Presidential Instruction (Inpres) No. 8 of 2018 concerning the Postponement and Evaluation of Palm Oil Plantation Licensing and Increasing Palm Oil Plantation Productivity.
Through this policy, the government is trying to improve sustainable management of oil palm plantations, provide legal certainty, protect and protect the environment, including the reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, as well as to increase the development of oil palm growers and increase the productivity of oil palm plantations.
The moratorium and evaluation of oil palm plantations is a good momentum to improve the governance of oil palm plantations in Indonesia. This paper hopes to provide information regarding the challenges of implementing Inpres 8 2018, and further elaboration on how to link this policy with other policies so that the Inpres can be grounded and well implemented with the limited time given, namely 3 years.
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