DPR: Agroforestry a long-term solution to prevent illegal forest plundering

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Commission IV of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) stated that expanding forest-based food security partnership programmes, or agroforestry, is a long-term solution deemed effective for preventing rampant acts of plundering and illegal logging in forest areas. Commission IV member Ilham Pangestu, during a working meeting with the Vice Minister of Forestry at the Parliament Complex in Jakarta on Thursday, said that legally involving village communities within forest areas through this scheme would create a strong ecological defence barrier. “Expanding the agroforestry programme is an effective long-term solution to prevent the illegal plundering of forest areas. Through this activity, village communities will participate in protecting the forest because they receive direct economic benefits,” he said. Ilham explained that if these productive economic programmes are multiplied, the operational space for illegal logging perpetrators will narrow because local residents will voluntarily conduct independent supervision to protect their source of livelihood. This step is viewed as urgent for adoption in the 2027 budget posture to evaluate conventional monitoring systems, which have so far proven less than optimal, partly due to the limited number of forest police personnel in the Ministry of Forestry. The area of forest that has experienced shrinkage or damage triggering massive impacts from floods accompanied by landslides in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra has reached 1.2 million hectares, according to a report utilising satellite imagery monitoring. Therefore, Commission IV expects the Ministry of Forestry to focus its agroforestry utilisation budget on areas prone to illegal logging as a mitigation instrument in utilising the 2027 State Budget posture. Through an integrated commitment to expanding agroforestry, Ilham is optimistic that the government will not only be able to suppress the annual deforestation rate but also simultaneously realise post-disaster environmental restoration based on people’s welfare. During the meeting, Vice Minister of Forestry Rohmat Marzuki confirmed the improvement of community welfare around forest areas by increasing the community-based spending budget allocation by 28.84 per cent to Rp667.92 billion in the Fiscal Year 2026 work plan. The total allocated budget is equivalent to 26 per cent of the ministry’s overall technical activity ceiling, which reaches Rp3.297 trillion. This increased fiscal stimulus for the community will be distributed in a labour-intensive manner through community-based forest and land rehabilitation programmes, as well as facilitation of productive economic tools assistance to drive the wheels of the village economy. Furthermore, the funds are also channelled to strengthen the capacity of social forestry business groups, provide intensive assistance for forest farmer groups, and actively involve residents in forest and land fire prevention patrol systems. On the other hand, to support the national macro cluster, the Ministry of Forestry continues to align the remainder of its technical budget, valued at over Rp2.3 trillion, to strengthen food, energy, and water security through a forest-based food security scheme.