Enviro News Asia, Jakarta — The Ministry of Forestry, through the Directorate General of Forestry Law Enforcement (Gakkum), continues to gather data and information related to the legal facts surrounding illegal mining activities in the educational forest area managed by the Faculty of Forestry, Mulawarman University, located in Lempake, North Samarinda District, Samarinda City, East Kalimantan.
It was discovered on April 5, 2025, that the management team of Mulawarman University’s educational forest conducted a field inspection and found evidence of illegal coal mining activity, involving land clearing within the forest area.
The inspection revealed that the perpetrators were using heavy machinery to strip and excavate the land, causing trees to fall and damaging the vegetation in the training forest.
On April 6, 2025, the perpetrators fled the scene and removed all equipment in a ‘hit and run’ operation. As a result, approximately 3.26 hectares of the educational forest were damaged due to the activity.
Following the incident and the official report from the Dean of the Faculty of Forestry at Mulawarman University to the Ministry of Forestry, the Director General of Forestry Law Enforcement, Januanto, instructed Forest Rangers and Civil Servant Investigators (PPNS) from the Forestry Law Enforcement Agency to promptly and intensively investigate the illegal mining activities on-site.
This illegal mining activity is considered a serious and organized crime involving forest destruction.
“I extend my appreciation for the strong public attention and support in exercising social oversight to help protect the natural resource ecosystems within forest areas, including educational forests,” stated Januanto, as quoted in a press release by the Ministry of Forestry on Wednesday, April 9, 2025.
“Strengthening forest protection and implementing a more effective monitoring system for managing educational forests must be enhanced through collaborative efforts across agencies,” Januanto emphasized.
The Special Purpose Forest Area (KHDTK) is mandated by Law Number 41 of 1999 concerning Forestry, and is designated for special purposes such as education and training, and must be preserved. In addition, educational forests function as natural laboratories for academic learning.
In a separate statement, the Head of the Forestry Human Resources Training and Development Agency (P2SDM), Indra Exploitasia, also emphasized the importance of taking evaluative and anticipatory steps in managing Mulawarman University’s Educational Forest to prevent similar criminal acts in the future. Educational forests play a strategic role in supporting the development of research and scientific advancement.
The Forestry Human Resources Training and Development Agency has coordinated with Mulawarman University and other related parties to collaboratively evaluate the management of the Educational Forest. This coordination also aims to formulate corrective measures to ensure the sustainability of the natural resource ecosystem within the forest, covering all aspects from planning to management and supervision. (*)
