Siak District

Overview

Siak Regency is dominated by lowland areas in the East and a few highlands in the West. Siak is also part of the Singapore, Johor and Riau (Sijori) regional triangle economic cooperation and the Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand (IMT-GT) growth triangle.

Siak is classified as prosperous, especially when compared to other districts in Riau Province or in Indonesia. In addition to the 2021 GRDP reaching IDR 89.8 trillion (USD 6.3 billion), Siak also has cooperation in managing the Rokan oil block, and has the Tanjung Buton industrial area as infrastructure support for international trade.

Siak has one of the largest peatland areas on the island of Sumatra, with a peatland percentage of 57%. However, much of it has been drained for oil palm and timber plantations, putting the area at risk. The peatland fires of 2015 changed the perspective of Siak stakeholders towards a more sustainable development view, which brought about substantial changes to the region.

Siak has been seen as one of the districts with the most progressive commitments to sustainability. Siak has issued regulatory instruments to strengthen the dream of becoming a green district. Following the issuance of Regent Regulation No. 22/2018, Regional Regulation No. 4/2022 was finally promulgated to provide a solid legal basis for the implementation of Siak’s ambition to become a green district.

Green Growth Roadmap

There are three objectives in the Green District Siak Road Map, namely:

1.  Management of natural resources as much as possible for the benefit of the people (community) with the principle of sustainability and sustainability.
2. The interest of the community in the utilization of natural resources for the improvement of the community’s economy and local revenue.
3. The pattern of utilization of regional Natural Resources is carried out through Conservation, Downstreaming and Intensification activities.

Meanwhile, the targets of the Green District Siak Road Map are:

1. Reduce the level of damage to natural resources, especially peat and the Siak watershed.
2. Creating economic growth in line with the principles of sustainability and sustainability.
3. Utilization of natural resources by reducing the impact of damage to the function and sustainability of these natural resources
4. Policies that harmonize conservation policies and economic growth.
5. Overcoming poverty through the empowerment of the people’s economy, empowerment of the rural economy, development of the employment sector as well as population distribution and control.

Multi-stakeholder Coalition

The culture of “gotong royong” (collaboration) is deeply rooted as evidenced by the various multi-stakeholder collaboration initiatives in Siak. They involve not only between government and civil society but also the private sector and the academic community. This culture of “gotong royong” is the main social capital to achieve the development goals in the Green Siak Roadmap.

The Siak Hijau Secretariat is established by the District Government of Siak to facilitate stakeholders from various sectors to be able to discuss, coordinate, and collaborate to achieve the regional development goals set in the Siak Hijau vision. Civil society has also been actively contributing ideas and programs to the success of the Siak District’s vision to become a green district. They established a forum called “Sedhago Siak”. The forum aims to support district government in applying the principles of sustainability in the utilization of natural resources and in local economic development. One major contribution of the Sedhago Siak is the Green Siak Roadmap.

The private sector has also been actively involved through a forum called the Private Sector Coalition for Green Siak that consists of six companies namely Astra Agro Lestari, Wilmar, Musim Mas, APRIL, APP, and EcoNusantara. The coalition is committed to supporting the achievement of the development goals in the Green Siak Roadmap. In addition, there is also the “Siak-Pelalawan Landscape Program” initiative which synergizes the private sector with civil society in building a sustainable oil palm plantation. The Coalition believes that achieving positive palm oil production for forests and communities will be more effective through collaboration with local governments and other stakeholders than doing so partially or only through the company’s supply chain. The companies that are active members of this coalition include Cargill, L’Oreal, Musim Mas, Neste, PepsiCo, Unilever, while Danone, Sinar Mas, and the Consumer Goods Forum serve as supporters.

The multistakeholder governance includes supply chains, smallholder farmers, and indigenous communities—which have all agreed to develop a stakeholder mapping strategy, set a High-Conservation Value area of around 1,206,000 HA, and create a conflict-resolution unit technical team for land reform.

Investment Outlook

In continuing the current efforts, the jurisdiction investment outlook for Siak will influence investors to refer for partnership and mobilize future investments to support Green Siak’s vision.