House Calls for Stronger Institutions and Funding to Tackle Forest and Land Fires

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta - Member of Commission IV of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) Darori Wonodipuro, said efforts to tackle forest and land fires (karhutla) need to be strengthened through stronger institutional capacity and adequate budget support down to the regional level. This is important to ensure that prevention and response efforts can be implemented according to the characteristics of each area, particularly peatland regions.

He also said forest and land fires require different approaches depending on land conditions. Understanding the characteristics of an area is essential to ensure that preventive measures are not taken only after a fire has occurred.

“Because the fires are now quite widespread, we need to know what the facts and realities are. The main challenge is particularly on peatlands. Fire management differs depending on the terrain. What do we do on flat land, what do we do on sloping land, and what do we do on peatlands? These are things we need to study together,” Darori said in Jakarta on Tuesday, September 29, 2026 as quoted from dpr.go.id.

He also said that one aspect that needs to be strengthened is the forest protection structure down to the field level. The presence of personnel and institutions in the regions is needed so that potential fires can be monitored and addressed more quickly.

In addition, adequate and proportional budget support needs to be provided to strengthen area protection and the provision and improvement of facilities for handling forest and land fires. Strengthening both aspects needs to go hand in hand so that responsibility for forest management does not rest solely with the central government.

“For example, is the institutional structure there, including the forestry agencies down to the grassroots level? Is it present at the village and subdistrict levels, including forest rangers? If not, then we need to complete it. Second is the budget. How much funding does the ministry provide?” Darori said.

He also highlighted water management as an important part of preventing fires on peatlands. According to him, keeping peatlands wet can serve as a preventive measure because dry conditions make the land more vulnerable to fires.

“With peatlands, simply watering them without keeping them saturated with water won’t work. But there is an example in Sintang. There are peatlands there, yet 100,000 hectares owned by a Japanese company did not burn. That is because the peatland remains flooded with water at all times, as water from the mountains is retained,” he conveyed.

To strengthen financial support, Commission IV of the DPR RI is also planning a scheme to share non-tax state revenue (PNBP) from the forestry sector between the central and regional governments. The funds are intended to support the improvement of facilities and the protection of forest areas according to the respective authorities.