Forestry Minister Affirms Governance Transformation Through System Integration

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of Forestry Raja Juli Antoni has reaffirmed efforts to strengthen and transform forestry governance through system integration, enhanced transparency and accountability, and the utilisation of data intelligence in decision-making processes.

“This is my simple hope; once again, we can provide to external parties that people can conduct business more easily and comfortably, incoming investment is more measurable, and we simplify our licensing timelines so that they do not become problems in the future,” the Minister stated in a briefing in Jakarta on Wednesday.

One of the efforts being undertaken by the Ministry of Forestry is through the ‘Jaga Rimba’ Forestry Decision Support System (DSS), a digital platform.

The Minister noted that this digital system is intended to strengthen the supervision of forest areas in Indonesia, which he believes faces increasingly complex challenges.

“The idea behind this DSS is quite simple. From my experience during my first few weeks and months in this ministry we are proud of, there are things we must improve and things we need to rectify,” said Minister Raja Antoni.

He continued that the Jaga Rimba DSS integrates various applications across directorates-general, thematic geospatial information, and the regulations that form the basis for understanding the relationships between forest areas, licensing, and the holders of rights and obligations.

“So, the idea is simple, but I believe it has historical urgency to improve our performance. It is not merely an application; we are attempting to fix our way of thinking. We can no longer allow sectoral ego to persist,” he remarked.

Minister Raja Antoni identified the Jaga Rimba DSS as a vital instrument in driving the realisation of the ‘One Map Policy for Forestry’, which serves as a shared reference for the management and supervision of forest areas.

Currently, the system is supported by 82 Thematic Geospatial Information sets produced by 24 second-tier (Echelon II) work units, as well as 123 Rules and Relations, enabling more comprehensive and accurate data analysis.

Furthermore, the Jaga Rimba DSS is equipped with an Early Warning System feature that can provide automatic notifications if potential overlapping permits, intersecting applications, or hotspots that could trigger forest and land fires are detected.

This feature is expected to accelerate mitigation steps and data-driven follow-up actions.

“Although this application is not yet perfect, our simple intention is to be able to protect the forests, protect the jungles, and simultaneously protect our lives as a nation,” said Raja Antoni.