Enviro News Asia, Jakarta – President Prabowo Subianto has issued Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 5 of 2025 on the Management of Forest Areas. The regulation, issued on January 21, 2025, aims to improve land governance and activities such as mining, plantations, and other operations within forest areas, while also preventing potential misuse of forest land.
This Presidential Regulation is a specific derivative of Articles 110A and 110B of the Job Creation Law, which governs administrative sanctions, as well as Government Regulation No. 24 of 2021 on the procedures for non-tax state revenue derived from administrative fines.
Through this regulation, President Prabowo also emphasizes the need for effective law enforcement against parties using forest areas without authorization. Article 3 outlines three actions the government can take regarding law enforcement: imposing administrative fines, reclaiming forest areas, and restoring assets within forest areas.
Previously, the authority to enforce regulations, including the collection of administrative fines, was held by the Ministry of Forestry. However, under this new Presidential Regulation, the authority has been transferred to the Forest Area Management Task Force (Satgas). This task force was established under the same regulation.
The Forest Area Management Task Force is chaired directly by the Minister of Defense, with three deputies: the Attorney General, the Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), and the Chief of the Indonesian National Police (Polri). Members of the task force include the Minister of Forestry, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/Head of the National Land Agency, and the Minister of Finance.
The government claims that this regulation was issued to accelerate the resolution of issues related to mining and plantations within forest areas. The task force is entrusted with three main duties under this new regulation: collecting administrative fines, reclaiming forest areas, and restoring assets within forest areas.
