Multi-level law enforcement for forest and land fire actors, KLHK: crimes until permit is revoked

TIME.CO, Jakarta – The Ministry of Environment and Forestry or KLHK implements police layers to trap perpetrators proven to have caused forest and land fires (karhutla) in Indonesia.

“We carry out multi-level law enforcement, including the implementation of administrative sanctions, including the revocation of permits, then initiating legal actions for compensation for environmental losses and the enforcement of criminal law,” said the director general of environmental and forestry law enforcement, KLHK Ratio Ridho Sani in Jakarta. , Saturday 7 October 2023.

The multi-level criminal law enforcement mechanism is implemented, not just the imposition of elementary crimes with the threat of 10 years in prison and a fine of IDR 10 billion. The perpetrator could in fact be punished with a 12-year sentence and a fine of IDR 12 billion if the fire had had health consequences.

Ratio said his party had revoked the permits because forest and land fires had repeatedly broken out in the company’s concession area. This sanction is also used to stop the activities of companies that destroy forests and peatlands by burning them.

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry has spoken to legal representatives and experts to begin calculating the extent of environmental loss resulting from forest and land fires.

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry, together with the Attorney General’s Office and the National Police, worked together to apply integrated criminal law to facilitate the process of imposing sanctions. “We are applying integrated criminal law to take firm action against perpetrators,” Ratio said.

In addition to the basic punishment in the form of imprisonment and fine, offenders also risk additional punishment in the form of confiscation of profits.

Announcement

Ratio explained that many activities carried out by companies, including land clearing, do not provide equipment to control forest and land fires in order to make a profit. “We will confiscate criminal acts resulting from these profits. These are the steps we are taking to enforce environmental and forestry laws in Indonesia,” Ratio said.

From January 1, 2023 to October 5, 2023, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry wrote to 220 companies reporting the presence of hot spots in their concession areas. The largest number of warning letters sent to companies in the West Kalimantan region reached 58 letters, in Central Kalimantan 43 letters, in East Kalimantan 26 letters and in South Sumatra 20 letters.

Not only that, the Ministry of Environment and Forests has also sealed 35 burnt areas. The sealing activity is intended to be a lesson for companies and communities whose land has been burned.

Details of the 35 lands that have been sealed are available West Kalimantan as many as 11 lands, East Kalimantan with 16 lands and South Sumatra with 14 lands. Most of the land sealed was earmarked for oil palm plantations.

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