The Indonesia Ecolabelling Institute
LEI (The Indonesian Ecolabeling Institute) was first initiated in 1994 as a working group called Pokja Ekolabel. Chaired by Professor Emil Salim – a distinguished public figure highly respected by NGOs, private sectors, government officials and the academic community both domestic and abroad.
The working group received full support from the then Minister of Forestry, Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo.
The group was tasked to develop a national certification system for natural production forest management. The system includes a set of standards (criteria, indicators, norms, and verifiers) for sustainable natural production forest management, assessment procedures, certification decision-making process, and approach mechanism.
The main references used by the group in developing the system are The Criteria and Indicators of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) of the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), the Principals and Criteria of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and the environmental management system of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
On February 6, 1998, LEI was institutionalized as The Indonesian Ecolabelling Institute Foundation as a system developer and as an accreditation body for the natural resource certification scheme.
LEI has been developing certification systems for natural forest production, a forest plantation, community-based forest, and chain of custody from 1994 to 2004. During that time, a regional network for monitoring and supporting the fair implementation of certification has been established, covering 14 Regional Communication Forums.
In October 2004, through a multistakeholder Congress, LEI has become a Constituent Based Organization (CBO) consisting of NGOs, indigenous people, academicians, business associations, and the private sector. This transformation has expanded LEI’s role in developing certification systems in forestry as well as in marine and agricultural products. LEI will also take its role in promoting conflict resolution and policy advocacy.