House backs plan to increase forest rangers to safeguard Indonesia's 124.9 million hectares

House Commission IV has declared its full support for the Ministry of Forestry’s proposal to significantly increase the recruitment of new forest rangers to optimise the national forest security system. During a working meeting at the Parliament Complex in Jakarta on Thursday, Commission IV member Dwita Ria Gunadi stated that strengthening the defence line has become an urgent need given the high pressure on forest areas. “The ministry has proposed an additional budget of Rp6.23 trillion, where one of the largest components is the procurement of forest rangers. We strongly support the procurement of forest rangers because we can see the condition of our forests is so vast,” she said.

Responding to this support, Deputy Minister of Forestry Rohmat Marzuki explained that Indonesia is currently experiencing a security ratio crisis, with only 4,800 forest rangers tasked with guarding a total of 124.9 million hectares of forest area. The disparity, which reaches a ratio of one personnel overseeing 26,000 hectares, has resulted in rampant illegal corporate practices, including the discovery of 5.8 million hectares of illegal palm oil plantations and the proliferation of unlicensed mining activities within forest areas. The ministry is optimistic that the addition of tens of thousands of forest rangers, later integrated with aerial monitoring technology, drones, Smart Patrol applications, and satellite imagery, will be able to suppress the annual deforestation rate for the prosperity of the community and the economic prospects of forest products.

“Security will be more effective to safeguard the existing forest resource wealth so that we can then manage it for the prosperity of the community, especially those around forest areas. So we ask for support from the members of House Commission IV,” said Deputy Minister Rohmat Marzuki.