Government Restructures Forest Area Boundaries

The government is reorganizing regulations related to agrarian reform management, including through the accelerated resolution of boundary lines between forest areas and Other Use Areas (Area Penggunaan Lainnya – “APL”). This restructuring is being carried out jointly by the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency (Agraria dan Tata Ruang/Badan Pertanahan Nasional – “ATR/BPN”) and the Ministry of Forestry.

“We are starting to resolve the boundaries between forest areas and APL, beginning with provinces that have low-intensity conflicts. This is similar to cases involving forest area claims,” said Nusron Wahid, Minister of ATR/Head of BPN.

Nusron explained that the restructuring of forest area and APL boundaries is being undertaken to address agrarian conflicts, particularly those related to claims over community land or land that has long been used productively but was later found to fall within forest areas. In order to support of this process, the government has also suspended the signing of new applications, extensions, or renewals of Right-to-Cultivate (Hak Guna Usaha – “HGU”) in the palm oil plantation and mining sectors over the past year.

Nusron emphasized that the management of agrarian reform needs to be reorganized in accordance with the principles of justice and equity, as mandated under Article 33, paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution. “The concept of Agrarian Reform is being restructured so that it can help reduce our Gini ratio,” he stated.