UI academic: Tackling forest and land fires requires evidence-based law enforcement

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Eugenia Mardanugraha, an academic at the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Indonesia (FEB UI), said tackling forest and land fires requires collaboration among stakeholders and evidence-based law enforcement.

“Collaboration is intended to ensure that all parties share the same interest in preventing fires from the outset, speeding up the response when fires occur, and ensuring accountability is assigned to those who can be proven to have committed violations,” Eugenia said in a statement in Jakarta on Tuesday.

She said the main challenge in tackling forest and land fires did not lie solely in the need to introduce new policies, but also in the effective implementation of existing ones.

According to her, inter-agency working arrangements, the division of responsibilities, field coordination and evidentiary processes need to be clarified to make the response to fires more effective and fair.

She said collaboration must be established before fires occur, rather than only after a disaster has begun.

“The government needs to strengthen the allocation of roles, the sharing of data on fire-prone locations and weather conditions, early-warning systems, emergency-response procedures, and joint fire-response exercises,” Eugenia said.

Companies and communities located near fire-prone areas should also be involved as part of the prevention and initial-response system, she added.

“This means that efforts to tackle forest and land fires will not depend solely on government action after a blaze has grown, but will be supported by the preparedness of all parties from the outset,” she said.

Eugenia said collaboration must not be interpreted as an attempt to shield parties from legal accountability. Prevention, firefighting and law enforcement must proceed together, with each fulfilling its respective role.

“When a fire occurs, the first priority is to contain and extinguish it and prevent its impact from spreading. At the same time, evidence needs to be collected so that an investigation can proceed without hindering the emergency response,” she said.

The investigation should then establish the fire’s origin and cause, the obligations of each party, and whether there was intent or negligence.

“Any party proven to have violated the law must remain accountable in accordance with the applicable regulations,” she said.