Presidential Instruction No. 10 2011 (PI) Regarding the Suspension of Granting New Licences and Improvement of Natural Primary Forest and Peatland Governance was enacted in May 2011. This PI (known popularly as “the Moratorium”) forms part of the implementation of the Government of Indonesia’s policy to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) by 26% whilst maintaining 7% economic growth, as well as partial fulfilment of obligations under the letter of intent with the Government of Norway to assist with this low emissions development strategy.

The PI was released with an accompanying indicative map showing primary forest and peatlands covered by the moratorium published at a scale of 1:19,000,000. As part of the mandate given to the Ministry of Forestry (MoF) within the PI and to enable operational implementation of the moratorium, the MoF has now published a series of maps at a scale of 1:250,000 as an Indicative Map for the Moratorium on the Issuance New Licenses for the whole of Indonesia, along with a Ministerial Decree (SK 323/Menhut-II/2011) intended to elaborate its purpose and the process by which it shall be revised in the future.

This report outlines a short set of observations pertaining to these new maps and the associated Ministerial decree.