Indonesia and South Korea Agree on Cooperation for Forest and Land Fire Management
Indonesia and South Korea have agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation and collaboration on sustainable forest management and the handling of forest and land fires (karhutla).
The agreement was signed by Indonesia’s Minister of Forestry (Menhut), Raja Juli Antoni, and South Korea’s Minister of Forestry (KFS), Park Eun-sik, in Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday (1/4/2026).
Raja Juli believes that the cooperation between the Ministry of Forestry (Kemenhut) and KFS will provide significant benefits for Indonesia.
“Especially in enhancing preparedness to face potential forest and land fires,” said Raja Juli in his statement on Wednesday.
“Support for technology, capacity building, and sharing experiences from Korea will greatly help Indonesia in strengthening its forest fire control system,” he continued.
The signing of the cooperation between Kemenhut and KFS is part of President Prabowo Subianto’s state visit to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries in the forestry sector.
The agreement covers issues related to climate change handling and sustainable forest management, mangrove and peat rehabilitation, ecotourism development, social forestry, and strengthening the forest carbon market.
The second document is the Memorandum of Understanding on Forest Fire Management and Post-Fire Restoration Cooperation, which includes prevention, preparedness, response, and post-fire forest recovery.
The cooperation document also addresses the utilisation of technology such as satellite-based monitoring and strengthening human resource capacity.
“This cooperation also continues the long-standing partnership between Indonesia and South Korea in the forestry sector, which has been established for more than four decades, and strengthens the role of both countries in regional and global cooperation,” wrote Raja Juli.
Currently, KFS has several technologies related to forest fire handling and operates 55 forest firefighting helicopter units supported by 755 personnel.
For information, efforts to handle forest fires in Korea are also strengthened by around 250 additional helicopters and 10,000 personnel from various elements in the Land of the Morning Calm.
Through these two cooperations, Indonesia and South Korea agree to carry out various activities.
Among them are the exchange of knowledge and technology, the development of joint projects, as well as training and capacity building.