Jakarta - The community has the same right to benefit from geothermal development activities. For this reason, the community must understand how geothermal development and its benefits for them. On the other hand, geothermal developers must also increase their understanding and attention to the values of local wisdom that apply in a community when conducting geothermal development. This was raised in the Talk Show "Strengthening the Role and Participation of Communities in Encouraging Sustainable Geothermal Development in Indonesia" organized by WWF Indonesia and the Indonesian Geothermal Association (API) at JS Luwansa Hotel, Jakarta, Tuesday (26/04).

In the event, WWF introduced the Forum and Coalition of civil society initiated since 2014 as a communication forum for the community, especially those around the geothermal development areas in Aceh, Jambi and Lampung. Currently, geothermal forums have been formed in Aceh and Jambi, namely the Aceh Geothermal Forum (AGF) and the Merangin Kerinci Energy Forum (Formerci) as well as a coalition of NGOs in Lampung, namely Rumah Kolaborasi (RuKo).

Nyoman Iswarayoga, Director of Communication and Advocacy of WWF Indonesia asserted that the capacity of the community needs to be built so that in the future the community and civil society organizations are able to establish more strategic partnerships with the heat developers.
more strategic partnerships with geothermal developers, central and local governments, and other stakeholders to encourage sustainable geothermal development in Indonesia.
"Community participation in supporting the success of geothermal development is certainly very important and necessary so that the activities carried out can run successfully according to plan. Of course with mutual cooperation that is mutually beneficial for both the developer and the community itself. Among other things, with the opening of employment opportunities for the local community for both skills and non-skills, starting from exploration to exploitation. As part of CSR, of course Comdev will be a commitment for developers that is usually carried out through Musrenbang (Village Development Planning Conference) with the local government. Another thing is of course that there is an economic turnover for the community and the local area if geothermal development can be supported and implemented." explained Abadi Poernomo, President of the Indonesian Geothermal Association (API).

"The community, as one of the stakeholders in geothermal development, has a very important role. This is reflected through the inclusion of community participation in geothermal development. Law No. 21 of 2014 guarantees the participation and rights of the community and the government is obliged to ensure that these provisions are applied and implemented by both developers and communities around geothermal projects. This law also gives a big role to the community to monitor geothermal development in their respective areas. The community is expected to play an active role in submitting reports in the event of hazardous conditions, pollution, and environmental damage due to geothermal development activities," explained Yunus Saefulhak, Director of Geothermal, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR).

In addition, Law No. 21 of 2014 also guarantees the right of the community to obtain information and benefits from geothermal activities and to obtain appropriate compensation for errors outside the procedures carried out by the developer. Furthermore, the government translates the importance of the community's role in by allocating production bonuses to local governments. This special allocation, one of which is based on the spirit to increase community participation in each geothermal project, can be used by local governments for community development around geothermal projects such as the construction of public facilities, economic improvement, and to fund programs needed by the surrounding community.

Note to Editor

WWF Indonesia through WWF's "Ring of Fire" Program has an ambition to "increase the production and utilization of sustainable geothermal energy by 300% by 2020, in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. In 2014-2016 the "Ring of Fire" program activities, supported by SIDA and WWF Sweden, focused on increasing the capacity of civil society related to the geothermal context with 3 target areas in Sumatra namely Aceh, Jambi and Lampung. It is expected that by increasing the capacity of the community in the context of geothermal, the community has a balanced, valid and science-based information base related to the potential impacts and benefits of geothermal development. Therefore, the people who live around the geothermal development area.

Civil Society Capacity Building to Support Sustainable Geothermal Development in Indonesia" was initiated by WWF Indonesia in 2014 - 2016. There are 3 (three) main outputs to be achieved, namely: 1) Civil society organizations are more effective in conducting policy dialogue on natural resource management; 2) Civil society organizations can engage more effectively in dialogue with the private sector in decision-making and practices related to natural resource management, and; 3) Enable conditions where the involvement of civil society organizations can be further increased.

For more information, please contact:

1. Ring of Fire Program Coordinator WWF Indonesia, Achmed Shahram Edianto1.
PHONE: +62-813-1916-3013 Email:[email protected]

2. Chairman of the Indonesian Geothermal Association (API), Abadi Poernomo
PHONE: +62-816-1623-964 Email:[email protected]

3. Director of Geothermal, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Yunus Saefulhak
PHONE: +62-813-8037-7111 Email: [email protected]