Ministry of Forestry Proposes 21,000 Forestry Police Personnel to Protect Forest Areas
Jakarta — Deputy Minister of Forestry Rohmat Marzuki stated that the Ministry of Forestry (Kemenhut) has proposed expanding forestry police personnel to reach 21,000 officers to protect forest areas as part of a broader transformation in forestry governance.
Speaking after the 43rd Foresters’ Day ceremony in Jakarta on Monday, Deputy Minister Rohmat Marzuki conveyed the government’s commitment to strengthening professional, transparent, and science-based forestry management, given increasingly complex challenges in forest governance.
“First, we are focusing on protection and law enforcement in Indonesia’s forests, which we will strengthen going forward. I want to thank President Prabowo Subianto for his commitment in approving our proposal to expand forestry police personnel at the Ministry of Forestry. Currently, the number is still insufficient at only 4,800 personnel,” he said.
“We hope to propose 21,000 personnel in the future. This way, each officer could potentially protect 5,000 hectares of forest with support from information technology, drones, and other technological tools,” he added.
He explained that the expansion of forestry police personnel is necessary because the forestry sector now faces increasingly complex challenges influenced by climate change, threats from forest and land fires, flooding and landslides in various regions, and mounting pressures on forest areas.
In response, the Ministry of Forestry will implement strengthened forest protection and environmental law enforcement to ensure forest areas remain safeguarded from damage and irresponsible exploitation, whilst developing social forestry programmes so that communities surrounding forests can become part of forest management and obtain sustainable economic benefits.
The ministry will also continue strengthening forest and land rehabilitation, as well as watershed restoration to prevent hydrometeorological disasters such as floods and landslides that increasingly occur due to environmental degradation.
This is coupled with development of green forestry economics, including management of environmental services, carbon trading, and diversified forestry enterprises that create new economic opportunities whilst preserving forests.
The Ministry of Forestry is also pursuing modernisation of forestry governance through service digitalisation and integration of forestry data, making forestry management more transparent, accountable, and technology-based.
“The Ministry of Forestry is also promoting stronger governance through a Decision Support System (DSS) approach that encompasses digitalisation, synergy, and simplification in policy-making processes and public services in the forestry sector,” said Rohmat Marzuki.