57 Companies Sealed Following 34,000 Hectare Forest Fires; Ministry of Environment Notes Majority of Burnt Land is Palm Oil Plantations
The total area of land burnt in forest and land fire (karhutla) cases linked to corporate activities has reached tens of thousands of hectares. The Ministry of Environment (KLH) has recorded a total of approximately 34,636 hectares.
Of particular concern, around 95 per cent of this land comprises palm oil plantation areas, while the remaining five per cent consists of sugarcane plantations.
The Ministry of Environment has taken law enforcement measures by conducting monitoring and sealing 57 corporate entities spread across the Sumatra and Kalimantan regions.
Ardyanto Nugroho, Director of Complaints and Environmental Supervision at the Ministry of Environment, stated that the burnt area is spread across eight provinces.
“The Ministry of Environment has conducted monitoring and sealing of 57 corporate entities; these 57 entities contributed to a burnt land area of approximately 34,636 hectares,” he said, as reported on Wednesday, 30 September 2026.
Of the total 34,636 hectares of burnt land, the majority is located in the Kalimantan region. The Ministry of Environment noted that 88.9 per cent of this area is on that island.
West Kalimantan is the region with the largest area of forest fires, contributing 44.35 per cent of the total burnt land linked to corporate activities.
The distribution of the 57 sealed companies includes 12 companies in South Sumatra, two in Riau, two in Lampung, 19 in West Kalimantan, nine in South Kalimantan, seven in Central Kalimantan, four in East Kalimantan, and two in North Kalimantan.
The Ministry of Environment stated that the handling of these companies will not be limited to a single legal pathway.
Law Number 32 of 2009 concerning the Environment serves as the basis for implementing three legal enforcement instruments.
“We will utilise the three legal enforcement instruments as stipulated in Law Number 32 of 2009 concerning the Environment,” he stated.
These three instruments include criminal law enforcement, civil law enforcement, and administrative sanctions.
The handling of forest fire cases is also being conducted through inter-agency cooperation. Brigadier General Honi Havana, Head of Public Relations and Data at the Coordinating Ministry for Politics and Security, noted that data handling for forest fires between ministries and agencies often overlaps.
“This is integrated; in fact, the data overlaps. Therefore, data from the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Forestry is also being handled by the Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim),” said Honi.