International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. www.ijicc.

net
Volume 14, Issue 3, 2020

Civil Society’s Participatory Models:

a Policy of Preventing Land and
Forest Fire in Indonesia
Rahyunir Raufa, Zainalb, Rendi Prayudac, Khairul Rahmand, Ahmad
Fitra Yuzae, a,b,d,eGovernment Studies, cInternational Relations Department
Universitas Islam Riau, Indonesia, Email: [email protected],
b c
[email protected], [email protected],
d e
[email protected], [email protected]

Forest fires are one of the severe security threats and national disasters
faced by people in Indonesia. Forest fires in Indonesia have occurred
massively in several regions in Indonesia such as East Kalimantan,
West Kalimantan, Jambi and Riau Provinces. Forest fires in Indonesia
are caused by natural and human factors. Natural factors are caused by
the long and extreme dry season and human factors due to the
conversion of forests into plantations and illegal logging. Therefore,
we need the right policies in preventing forest fires in Indonesia. This
paper uses the study of literature with policy theory. The research
method used is descriptive qualitative method with interviews with
research informants. The results showed that the Governor of Riau, as
the head of the government, carried out various policies and activities,
including conducting coordination meetings with elements of regional
leadership through the Regional Leaders Communication Forum,
enforcing legal sanctions for forest burners, forming a smoke disaster
management team at the provincial, district/city level and district and
conduct activities in the form of artificial rain. The novelty produced
in this research is participatory civil society which is directly involved
in assisting the government in the form of Community-based Fire
Management as an effort to solve smoke disasters in Indonesia,
especially in Riau Province.

Keywords: Participatory, Society, Prevention and land fire.

1030
 International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. www.ijicc.net
Volume 14, Issue 3, 2020

Introduction

Indonesia is one of the countries with the most extensive forests in the world. Forests in
Indonesia are spread from the island of Sumatra to Papua. In 2009 the area of Indonesia's
forest cover was 88.17 million ha or around 46.33 per cent of Indonesia's land area. The
largest distribution of forest cover is in Papua Island with a percentage of 38.72 per cent of
the total area of Indonesia's forest cover, or around 34.13 million ha. Forest areas in
Indonesia have a vital role as oxygen producers throughout the Risnandar world. Indonesia is
one of the tropical countries that has the second largest forest area in the world and is dubbed
the world's lung because the amount of vegetation in this forest area can recycle the air and
produce a healthier environment for humans, but lately, forest fires in Indonesia increasingly
often occurred.

Forests are vital for life, and forest land is believed to influence the timing and distribution of
flow, even forests can be seen as regulating water systems. Forests can store water during the
rainy season and release it in the dry season. So we need various activities to support the
preservation of the forest environment. Forest and land fires (karhutla) that occur almost
every year in Indonesia have an impact on the economy and the environment. Although there
have been many laws and regulations related to forest and land fires, the incident continues to
recur. Throughout 2014, for example, the area burned in Riau Province reached 6,301.10 ha.
This figure is increasing when compared to the area burned in 2010 and 2011 (26 and 74.5
ha) even higher than compared to the years in 2012 and 2013 (1,060 and 1,077.5 ha)
(Ardhana, 2015).

Forest fires in Indonesia have occurred for decades. Large-scale forest fires that impacted on
haze and economic losses occurred in 1982/83, 1987, 1991, 1994, and 1997/1998 (Applegate,
2001). When there have been many fires in 2015, Indonesia experienced severe forest fires in
Sumatra and Kalimantan, which caused thousands of people to experience respiratory
problems and disrupt education and the economy in the area. In addition, as a result of these
forest fires, smoke generated to reach abroad (Sasmoko & Mahendra 2017). The impact of
the fire that is felt by humans in the form of economic losses is the loss of benefits from the
potential of forests such as forest trees that are commonly used by humans to meet their needs
for building materials, food ingredients, and medicines, as well as animals to meet the need
for animal protein and recreation. Other losses in the form of ecological losses are the
reduction in forest area, the unavailability of clean air produced by forest vegetation and the
loss of the function of the forest as a regulator of the water system and prevention of erosion.
The immediate global impact of forest and land fires is air pollution from smoke caused by
breathing problems and disrupting daily activities.

1031
 International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. www.ijicc.net
Volume 14, Issue 3, 2020

Forest and land fires occur due to 2 (two) main factors, namely natural factors and
uncontrolled human activity factors. Natural factors, among others, by the influence of El-
Nino which causes prolonged drought so that the plant becomes dry. Dried plants are a
potential fuel if exposed to sparks coming from coal that appears on the surface or from other
burning, intentionally or unintentionally. This causes the occurrence of fire below (ground
fire) and surface fires (surface fire). These two types of fires damage the shrubs and
undergrowth to the organic material that is under the layer of litter such as humus, peat, tree
roots or weathered wood. If it is slow to handle, fires can spread and cause crown fires, which
can damage the canopy of trees. However, this last type of fire can also occur due to
lightning. Factors of human activities that cause forest and land fires include the activity of
making campfires in the forest, but the embers of the former campfire are not extinguished.
Land clearing activities with the uncontrolled slash-and-burn technique are usually carried
out by HTI companies and shifting or sedentary cultivators. Intentional combustion to obtain
a grazing field or hunting ground, throwing cigarette butts that are ignited carelessly and as a
result of the use of equipment/machinery that causes a fire. (Fahmi Rasyid, 2014, pp. 47-59).
According to Danny (2001), the main cause of forest fires in East Kalimantan is due to
human activities, and only a small portion is caused by natural events. The natural fire
process, according to Soeriaatmadja (1997), can occur due to lightning strikes, collisions of
rock avalanches, coal seals, and stacks of srasahan. However, according to Saharjo and
Husaeni (1998), fires due to natural processes are minimal, and for the Kalimantan case is
less than 1%. Forest fires result in a) disruption to public health; b) disruption of air, land and
water transportation, even smoke that crosses national borders becomes a serious problem at
regional and international levels(Sudibyakto, 2003). The haze event is a routine event
experienced by the people of Riau in the last 18 years, especially in the dry season (WALHI,
2015). Every dry season, Riau residents are treated with haze due to forest and land fires.
When the haze struck, the mass media made this news their main topic. Likewise, with mass
movements that demand smog prevention often done. But along with the arrival of the rainy
season and the haze disappeared, news about the haze and mass movements disappeared.
News and mass movements emerge when forest and land fires recur.

Therefore, to tackle forest fires that occurred in Indonesia, especially in Riau Province, it is
necessary to have the right policies implemented by the government starting from the level of
the Village, Regency, Provincial and National Government. One of the governmental affairs
in Indonesia is a general governmental affair which in this case is a matter which becomes the
authority of the President which is delegated to the Governor and Regent / Mayor and Regent
/ Mayor to the District Head. The implementation of general government affairs in the
provincial government is assisted by a regional leadership coordination forum consisting of
the chairman of the DPRD, the Regional Police Chief, the District Military Commander, the
Chair of the High Court and the Head of the Ministry of Religion. Based on Law 23 of 2014
concerning Regional Government, the implementation of general government affairs is

1032
 International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. www.ijicc.net
Volume 14, Issue 3, 2020

financed by the state budget (APBN), one form of general government affairs is disaster
management. The Riau region has experienced haze disasters since 2012 due to forest fires
and a long dry season. Even in 2014, the haze disaster in Riau province was declared as a
national disaster that could endanger the health of Riau's population of 6,558 million, spread
in 12 regencies/cities in Riau Province by the central government. The Riau region has
experienced haze disasters since 2012 due to forest fires and a long dry season.

In the government system in Indonesia, it is known that there is a regional government which
is a sub-system of the national government, which in the implementation of regional
government uses the principle of deconcentration, the principle of decentralisation and the
principle of co-administration. In carrying out general government affairs, the principle of
deconcentration is used. Based on Law 23 of 2014 concerning regional government, general
government affairs include:

1. Fostering national insight and national resilience in order to strengthen the practice of
Pancasila, the implementation of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, the
preservation of Unity in Diversity and the preservation and maintenance of the integrity
of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia;
2. Fostering the unity and integrity of the nation;
3. Fostering inter-tribal and intra-tribal harmony, religious communities, races and other
groups to bring about local, regional and national security stability;
4. Handling social conflicts with statutory provisions;
5. Coordination of the implementation of tasks between government agencies in the
provinces and regencies/cities to solve problems that arise by taking into account the
principles of democracy, human rights, equity, justice, privileges and specialties,
potentials and regional diversity in accordance with statutory provisions .
6. Development of democratic life based on Pancasila.
7. Implementation of all government affairs that are not the authority of the region and are
not carried out by vertical agencies.

In relation to the haze disaster entered into the seventh general government affairs, in this
case, the residual affairs (residual matters) because these affairs are not included in regional
authority and are not carried out by vertical agencies. Riau Province is one of eight provinces
in Sumatra located in the eastern part of which is mostly lowland. Of the land area of Riau
Province 9.4 million ha, or around 40% (3.9 million ha) of which are low-lying peatlands and
some of them are affected by tides. Massive exploitation of forest resources in the last two
decades in Riau Province has changed land use from intact forest areas to plantations and
transmigration areas, especially on dry land and tides with an area of more than 2 million ha.
This has led to the increasingly limited dry land in the last 5 years, plantation investors and
Industrial Plantation Forest (HTI) began to lead to wetlands/peat (Wilson, Rosnita, & Yulida,

1033
 International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. www.ijicc.net
Volume 14, Issue 3, 2020

2017). The magnitude of the risk due to forest and land fires encourages the need for risk
management involving stakeholders, for example, interactions between government agencies,
academics, mass media, industry and society. This requires consideration of the legal,
institutional, social and economic context, which evaluates risks and involves actors and
stakeholders representing Renn (2008) in (Badri et al., 2018).

According to Brown and Davis (1973), forest fire is a process of rapid reaction of oxygen
with other supporting elements with the characteristics of heat, light, and flame with the
spread that is free and consumes fuel in the form of vegetation both dead or alive, littering,
topsoil, bush, and weed. Forest fires are also defined as fires that occur in whole or in part in
forests, shrubs or other flammable vegetation (Hussin, 2008). Syaufina (2008) defines forest
fires as incidents of fire devouring vegetated fuels that occur freely and uncontrollably within
the forest area. The increase in forest fire activity across the western continent of the United
States (US) in recent decades has turned into several factors, including the legacy of fire
suppression, climate change and also forest fires caused by humans(Abatzoglou and Williams
2016). Climate change also influences forest fires (Abrha and Adhana 2019). Forest fire is
one of the disasters that has a multidimensional negative effect on social, economic and
ecological problems. The possibility of forest ignition has increased sharply due to climate
change and human activities. Forest fires reduce tree cover and cause an increase in our
planet's gas emissions, and about 20% of atmospheric CO2 emissions are caused by forest
fires (Ghazi and Zineb 2019). Forest fires have repeatedly occurred in Sweden over the past
30 years, some of them serious and demanding the concerted efforts of several city fire
departments, smaller forest fires extinguished by local firefighters.

After the cold war, issues in international politics have moved to non-traditional security
issues (Rendi Prayuda. IJICC. Volume 10, Issue 3, 2019. p. 268). One form of security threat
is an environmental crime, namely forest fires. Forest and land fires are no longer a foreign
phenomenon in some parts of Indonesia, especially Sumatra and Kalimantan. The term forest
and land fires is used because fires occur not only in forest areas which are managed by the
Ministry of Forestry but also on non-forest lands such as plantations, agriculture and shrubs.
This natural phenomenon developed into a form of natural disaster that has an impact on
aspects of people's lives (Sukana & Bisara. 2016). Starting from the beginning of January
2018, forest and land fires reoccurred in Riau, the area of burned land was estimated at 549
hectares, located in 9 districts and cities in Riau. The number of hotspots, which can be seen
by BMKG since the beginning of 2018, is reaching 59 points. Forest fires have a very broad
impact, Ahmad Jauli said the impact of forest fires in Riau in 2014 caused haze that disrupted
community activities to disrupt flights that did not occur in the country but also harmed
neighbouring countries such as Singapore and Malaysia, especially in terms of
health(Apryani, 2018).

1034
 International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. www.ijicc.net
Volume 14, Issue 3, 2020

Forest fires are disasters that can be prevented and controlled by planned, comprehensive,
integrated and sustainable handling. Indonesia government, through the Ministry of Forestry,
has made efforts to prevent forest fires, including by patrolling forest areas, observing
watchtowers, and using the Department of Forestry satellite imagery. In tackling the haze
disaster in Riau Province, based on the pre-survey results of the Riau Governor with the
capacity as head of government, several policies have been taken, such as holding a
coordination meeting with elements of the regional leadership through Forkopinda, enforcing
legal sanctions for forest burners, forming a smoke disaster management team at the
provincial, district/city and sub-district levels, and carrying out activities in the form of
artificial rain.

So far, the government through the national disaster management agency (BNPB) has only
focused on data on the number of hotspots and their handling but does not have the number
of victims resulting from land and forest fires. This can be seen from the BNPB website,
which does not have casualty data from forest and land fires. Experience from several years
of events from forest and land fires that hit Indonesia has never been a site or agency that
provides developments regarding the amount of data on casualties due to forest and land fire
disasters. This data is especially useful if it wants to channel aid to areas where there are
victims. Data on casualties from forest and land fires can be in the form of displaced victims
(Fitriansyah. 2017). Other problems are related to natural disaster management which is part
of general government affairs that should be financed through the National Budget, but until
now there has been no budget from the National Budget for the handling of the haze disaster
so that the Riau governor uses funds from the Riau Province Regional Budget.

One area that often faces the threat of a forest fire disaster is Riau Province. Considering the
factor of forest fires that occurred in Indonesia and especially in the Riau Province region, as
well as the impact that will result from these forest fires, it is very important to know areas
that are prone to hotspots, in order to prevent forest fires early on (Sukamto, Id, & Angraini
2018). The case of forest fires in Riau has become a national disaster, so the president must
immediately intervene to resolve the haze problem in Riau Province. The impact of the forest
fires caused smog that damaged health, disrupted community activities, endangered flights
and had to be temporarily closed, protests from neighbouring countries due to haze and other
losses. Companies that are the masterminds of forest fires naturally choose the easiest way to
clear forest land for conversion into plantation land, that is by burning it (Zamil, 2015).

One of the problems of haze in Riau Province is due to the fact that law enforcement has not
been firmly carried out by unscrupulous forest burners either carried out by the business
community or by the local community as well as the weak element of supervision carried out
by parties related to forest fires, one of which through the Forestry and Environment Service

1035
 International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. www.ijicc.net
Volume 14, Issue 3, 2020

of the Riau Provincial Government. At present Riau Province has a total forest area of
8,598,757 hectares for details, see in Table 1 below:

Table 1: Area of Forest Areas in Riau Province by TGHK

No Allotment Area (Ha) Percentage (%)
1 Protected forest 228,794 2.66
2 Nature Reserve Forest and Forest Tourism 531,853 6.19
3 Production forest
a. Permanent 1,605,763 18.67
b. Limited 1,815,950 21.12
4 Forest Production pliers can be converted / APL 1,913,136 22.25
5 Other Use Areas (APL) release 2,364,828 27.50
6 Mangrove/mangrove forest 138,434 1.61
Amount 8,598,757 100
Source: Riau Province Forestry and Environment Office 2018.

Based on the table, it can be seen that there has been a change in the conversion of forest and
land functions in Indonesia with use of the widest forest area used for other use areas (APL),
which is around 2,364,828 hectares or around 27.57%. Preventive measures that can be
carried out to reduce the occurrence of fires among them are through controlling the issuance
of new location permits, controlling through and monitoring plantation areas as well as
evaluating compliance with the principle of forest/land processing permits in the form of
Industry Planting Forest company permits, business licenses for utilising timber forest
products for forests industrial plants, natural forests, and ecosystem restoration or plantation
business permit holders. DKPR (2015) in (Badri et al. 2018)mentions the triggering factors of
forest and land fires in Riau in terms of climate and geographical conditions, namely: (1)
domination of peatlands, (2) extreme weather, (3) excessive canalisation (draining) of
peatlands, (4) wind direction, and (5) patterns sporadic settlement and land clearing. The
spatial and socio-economic aspects include: (1) the Riau Regional Spatial Plan (RTRW) has
not yet been established, (2) the community's choice to clear land by burning, (3) the
community's limited ability to implement a land clearing system without burning, (4 ) the
existence of companies clearing land by burning for efficiency reasons, (5) the rapid growth
of oil palm plantations, and (6) not being maintained and managed by the company's
concession area so that it is potentially controlled by the community.

Forest fires are carried out to open new land or as part of the process of the cultivation cycle.
Burning as part of the cultivation cycle, carried out after the process of felling trees by
knocking down wood that is already large enough, usually the diameter of the plant can reach
20 cm2. On a small scale, burning of land does not cause haze, but burning on a large scale
causes smog. Mainly the forest burning process carried out by companies on a massive scale.
(Rokhiman 2016). The activities studied included disseminating information about forest and
1036
 International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. www.ijicc.net
Volume 14, Issue 3, 2020

land fire hazards, promoting forest and land fire prevention, forest and land fire prevention
actions, strengthening group communication and developing communication networks.

a. Dissemination of Forest and Land Hazard Information Dissemination of Forest and Land
Fire Hazard is a socialisation activity about the forest and land fire hazard for the
community both economically, environmentally and healthily. This socialisation activity
was carried out by MPA members to the community at the study site.
b. Forestry and Land Prevention Counseling Land and Forest Fire Prevention Counseling is
prevention activities carried out through preventive measures in the form of counselling
to the community so that they avoid activities that can trigger forest and land fire. This
counselling activity was carried out by MPA members to the community at the study site.
c. Karhutla Prevention Actions Karhutla Prevention Actions are actions taken by MPA
members when there are forest and land fires in their area so that they do not spread and
have broad impacts. This action was carried out by MPA members themselves and
together with the community.
d. The Relationship between Communication Behavior and Islamic Values with Forest and
Land Fire Prevention Patterns (Nurdin, 2016).

Research Methods

The method used in this research is to use descriptive qualitative methods in accordance with
research problems that want to explain the implementation of general government affairs in
the handling of the haze disaster in Riau Province. This research will be carried out using a
qualitative method approach with the types of descriptive research types, namely a type of
research that has the aim to analyse deeply against a phenomenon (Agus Salim, 2001: 5).
Emudian Sukidin (2002: 2) also mentioned that qualitative understanding is one of the
research methods aimed at gaining an understanding of reality through the process of
inductive thinking, in this sense the researcher is involved in the situation and setting of the
phenomenon under study.

Data collection techniques were carried out using the purposive sampling method with
research informants namely the Governor of Riau, the Chairperson of the Riau Province
DPRD, Communication Leadership Territory Forum Members, the Head of the Forest
Service and the Head of the BNPB and the Regent/Mayor and sub-districts. This research
was conducted with this context studied. Each event is something unique and different from
the others because there are different contexts.

1037
 International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. www.ijicc.net
Volume 14, Issue 3, 2020

Results and Discussion

Detection of forest fires can be done with the help of remote sensing data through data
processing with certain algorithms; it can be known the surface temperature of the land
surface so that from remote sensing satellite imagery, it can be tapped for information about
the distribution of hotspots which represent the presence of forest fires in an area. Based on
the results of research conducted by the World Resources Institute (Zamil, 2015), clearing oil
palm plantation land by burning forests in Indonesia is done for reasons including:

1. Fires reduce the quality of forest land and thus reduce the classification of protected
forests into production forests so that the possibility of forest areas available for
conversion to plantations is open;
2. In areas that have been allocated for oil palm plantations, burning forests is a cost-
effective way to clear land. According to one company operating in Central Kalimantan,
land clearing with mechanical tools costs twice as much as burning; and
3. Oil palm fruit must be processed within 24 hours of harvesting, so many companies
prefer that the location of the plantations is as close as possible to processing facilities
and transportation routes that can bring their crops to these facilities. However, areas such
as those that are more accessible are generally owned by local residents. Palm oil
companies then hire workers from outside to work and burn forests and plantation land
owned by local communities whose land the company wants to take over to expel the
community. Fires reduce the value of land by making the land degraded, and thus the
company will be able to take over the land more easily by making cheap compensation
payments to indigenous people.

Riau Province is one of the provinces that have a very large forest area for the sake of clarity
of forest area in Riau province can be seen in the following figure:

1038
 International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. www.ijicc.net
Volume 14, Issue 3, 2020

Figure 1. Forest area based on TGHK in Riau Province.

Based on the results of research on the implementation of general government affairs in the
management of the haze disaster in Riau Province showed that In 2015, six provinces
experienced forest and land fires, namely South Sumatra, Jambi, Riau, West Kalimantan,
Central Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan (Artharini, 2015: 1). The impact of this haze is
felt in the provinces of North Sumatra, West Sumatra, as well as neighbouring countries
Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. Furthermore, Tacconi (2003) in (Hanifah,
Syaufina, & Inscription, 2016) explained that forest and land fires are considered as a
potential threat to sustainable development because of their direct impact on ecosystems,
biodiversity, and the contribution of carbon emissions. Therefore, various efforts were made
by the government to anticipate and overcome these disasters such as early detection of forest
and land fires using hotspot data and the Fire Danger Warning System (SPBK), counselling
to communities around the forest or other related institutions, procurement or addition of
extinguishers fires, and installing signs prohibiting forest and land burning.

The haze disaster that hit Indonesia in 2015 was a very severe haze disaster. Robert Field, a
Columbia University researcher who conducted a study at the US Space Agency's Goddard
Institute for Space Studies, said, "If the dry season weather forecast lasts longer, it can be
assumed that 2015 will be recorded as the worst event on record." The same thing disclosed
by the Head of the Center for Information and Public Relations Data of the National Disaster
Management Agency (BNPB), Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. Sutopo, based on the number of
affected areas and the severity of the haze this year, estimates the number of losses this time
will be greater. In 2014, for Riau Province alone, losses caused by haze reached Rp 20
trillion.

1039
 International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. www.ijicc.net
Volume 14, Issue 3, 2020

The Governor of Riau as the head of government has carried out various policies and
activities related to the handling of the haze disaster, including:

1. Issued a policy on terminating forest management permits through the burning process
2. Conducting coordination meetings with elements of regional leadership through the Riau
Regional Leadership Coordination Forum (Forkopimda) consisting of the Chairperson of
the Riau Regional Representative Council (DPRD), the Riau Regional Police Chief
(Kapolda), the Riau Regional Military Chief, the Chief Prosecutor, Chief of the High
Court and others so.
3. Enforce legal sanctions for forest burners in accordance with statutory regulations
4. Form a smoke disaster management team at the provincial, district/city and sub-district
level and conduct activities in the form of artificial rain.
5. Together with the community, they form a smoke-care community that is spread
throughout the villages in Riau Province.
Inner son (Apryani, 2018) revealed the haze from forest fires will have an impact on all
aspects of life, including;
a. From the social, cultural and economic aspects of the haze, it has the potential to cause
loss of livelihoods of the surrounding community because the haze interferes with
community activities, offices and schools have the potential to be closed. Public health
will also be disrupted because the haze has the potential to cause acute respiratory
infections (ARI), pneumonia, and eye irritation.
b. From the ecological aspect, the haze has the potential to cause environmental damage,
including loss of species due to forest fires and increasing global warming.
c. From the aspect of transportation and tourism, the haze has the potential to disrupt air
transportation and cause tourism to decline because people who will go on a tour or who
will travel there have the potential to be cancelled due to haze conditions.
d.
The handling of the problem of forest fires which is focused on extinction and technology
alone is apparently not able to stop the occurrence of fires that come every year. In reality, on
the ground efforts to empower communities around forests and land based on socio-economic
and cultural aspects, institutional and government policies also play an important role in
controlling forest fires. Fire control based on the Forest Fire Control Brigade (Brigdalkarhut)
or Manggala Agni (Galaag) which is the lowest at the DAOPS level in the Regency,
apparently has not been effective in stopping fire incidents. The location of the fires, which
were generally located in villages around the forest that were far from four-wheeled vehicle
access, made the fire difficult to handle by cavalry troops from the city but must be handled
by infantry squads of communities around the forest. For this reason, this paper presents the
results of a prospective study of community-based forest and land fire control around forests
and land in relation to REDD.

1040
 International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. www.ijicc.net
Volume 14, Issue 3, 2020

In the context of handling post-fire, identification and evaluation, law enforcement, and
rehabilitation efforts are made: (1) Identification and evaluation, after the completion of the
implementation of fire fighting or after the fire season in one year ends, further activities
must be carried out in the form of evaluation of implementation. The results of this evaluation
are used to revise or refine the next forest fire control plan (Suratmo, 2003) in (Prasetyo,
2013), (2) Law enforcement against forest fire criminal acts is carried out in accordance with
applicable laws and regulations. Liability includes criminal liability, civil liability, paying
compensation and/or administrative sanctions, (3) Rehabilitation of ex-fire forest areas is an
important activity, in addition to restoring the function of the forest, also to reduce fuel
hazard (fire hazard reduction) as a result of fires that have already occurred.

With so many incidents of land fire, the Ministry of ATR/BPN reinforced the mandate of the
LoGA by issuing Minister of Agrarian and Spatial Regulation No. 15 of 2016. This
regulation provides strict sanctions and penalties for HGU holders if their land is burnt. The
most severe consequence of this regulation is that the HGU holder must relinquish his right to
his land and pay a fine.

Table 2: Number of hotspots in Riau Province in 2019

No Regency/city Hotspot
1 Indragiri Hilir 45
2 Pelalawan 44
3 Rohil 28
4 Kampar 9
5 Indragiri Hulu 8
6 Meranti Islands 2
7 Dumai 1
8 Kuantan Singingi 7
9 Bengkalis 7
Total 151
Source: Field Research Results & Processed Researcher Data for 2019.

The research findings produced in this paper are an effective form of policy that can be used
to prevent forest fires in Indonesia by establishing a Fire Concern Community in the Village
area that has a range of forest fires. The findings of this study are called the participatory civil
society model which is directly involved in assisting the head of government, in disaster
management also carried out by the private sector and the community (governance). In ideal
conditions, there is a balance of power and authority sharing between the Central
Government and Regional Governments, as well as the Central Government and the agencies
that take care of governance related to forest and land fires. The dominance of the Central
Government over the regional government under its authority in relation to dal-karhutla as
1041
 International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. www.ijicc.net
Volume 14, Issue 3, 2020

explained previously can be reduced by giving up some of its authority to the regional
government. Meanwhile, the supervision of the performance of regional heads can be fully
delegated to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Therefore, ideally the pressure of the Central
Government regarding dalkarhutla activities should be stronger on the Ministry of Home
Affairs. Other problems regarding the cessation of dalkarhutla activities only in extinguishing
activities can be resolved slowly through the activity of peatland restoration by the BRG.
In dealing with forest fires in Riau Province, the Government is judged to be less strict in
sanctioning perpetrators of forest fires including private companies allegedly involved. The
Riau Provincial Government's lack of clarity can be seen from land clearing for oil palm
plantation companies. The Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya said
weaknesses in law enforcement of forest and land fires in Indonesia are generally related to
procedural law and procedures in processing civil and criminal cases of forest-burning
companies or land becomes a loophole of bad habits of companies and communities who
open land by burning. Looking for the perpetrators of arson to date is still difficult to know
because there is still a lack of supervision in the forest and land (Wilson, Rosnita, & Yulida
2017).

With the recurrence of fires in several leading provinces, from the environmentalists and
people concerned about fire, new innovations have emerged regarding the control of land and
forest fires. The new thinking is that land fires must be handled by people who are close to
the initial fire incident. The fire that had arisen was from a small fire that was ignited by
human users of fire in the field, while the land that has been proven to experience burning
every year is agricultural land and cultivation. Maybe a small part of the fire due to
negligence to dispose of cigarette butts, due to heavy equipment machine smoke and other
causes of neglect. Similarly, fires due to natural friction, lightning and coal are challenging to
prove in the tropics. With the basis of the initial fire from small areas in the villages, the
efforts to empower the village community and even the village will be the determinant of the
success of fire prevention. Other considerations underlying the need for village-based
community based fire control are as follows (Marbyanto, 2004):

1. Forest and land fires in Indonesia are generally caused by human factors. Therefore
community participation in fire prevention will reduce the appearance of forest and land
fires.
2. The group most affected by forest and land fires is generally the people who live at the
location of the fire. Therefore it is only natural that they are actively involved in efforts to
manage forest and land fires.
3. The community has enormous potential resources (energy, nature/goods) to support fire
management activities as a complement to the Government's limited resources.

1042
 International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. www.ijicc.net
Volume 14, Issue 3, 2020

4. People usually domiciled in areas close to fire-prone areas, so they are very potential to
carry out an early attack (initial attack) in fire control. The initial attack is very important
to prevent large and extensive fires.
5. Communities in Kalimantan and Sumatra have a culture of using fire to open their
agricultural land so that to implement zero burning is still very difficult. A compromise
that is most likely right now is "how to do fire management" so that the fire created does
not have a significant negative impact on the environment.

Some of the villages that have been identified as having succeeded in preventing and
controlling land and forest fires in their village area, are presented in Table 2. The Village
Fire Control Organisations that were formed actually started in two ways. First, in the village
community a local wisdom organisation has formed a fire control system that has become a
custom for generations. Next, there was facilitation from the local government or other
institutions interested in forest and land fires. Secondly, there has not yet been formed a
traditional organisation in the village community, but the interest in organising is very high.
Furthermore, the National Social Organisation (NGO), both national and international,
facilitated the formation of village fire control teams (RPK). From the two mechanisms, the
formation of the Fire Concern Community at the village level turned out to have resulted in
the condition of the village community who were disciplined in controlling land fires and had
a corporeal spirit to defend their village from fire. One of the triggers for the emergence of an
organisational spirit is generally the facilitation of uniform clothing, fire control training,
provision of extinguishers and assistance funds.

Within the established land fire control organisation at the village level, management patterns
have been practised from program planning, program implementation, organising and
evaluation activities. So that the RPK activities are not only limited to blackout activities. In
fire control techniques, village fire control teams that have been formed have good
knowledge and skills in prevention, suppression preparation, suppression response and post-
fire activities. The names of fire control organisations at the village level vary depending on
ethnicity and culture. For the village fire control team in Central Kalimantan, there are two
names, namely the Fire Attack Team (TSA) initiated by Cimtrop Unpar (Limin, 2003) and
the Village Fire Control Team (RPK) initiated by Care International (Care Internasional
Indonesia, 2003). In East Kalimantan, the fire control team at the village level is often called
the PKBM (Community Based Fire Control) which was initiated by the UPTD-PHKL
together with IFFMP-GTZ (Marbyanto, 2003).

1043
 International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. www.ijicc.net
Volume 14, Issue 3, 2020

Conclusion

Based on the explanation, it can be concluded that the forest fires that occurred in Indonesia
are a serious threat to the country's security and fall into the category of national disasters.
Therefore comprehensive policy is needed in dealing with forest fires in Indonesia.
Prevention of forest fires that occur in Riau Province is not only the responsibility of the Riau
Province local government but also the responsibility of the central government and all
elements of the community must play an active role in helping the Riau Province government
and are serious in preventing forest fires that occur in the future. Participatory civil society
model is a collaborative form of policy because it makes the community not an object of
policy but a subject of policy in the form of a society concerned with fire. So that with the
formation of the fire-caring community, it is hoped that there will be coordination and
collaboration between the government and the community in preventing forest and land fires
in Indonesia and Riau Province.

1044
 International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. www.ijicc.net
Volume 14, Issue 3, 2020

REFERENCES

Abatzoglou, J. T., & Williams, A. P. (2016). Impact of anthropogenic climate change on

wildfire across western US forests. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
113(42), 11770-11775.

Abrha, H., & Adhana, K. (2019). Desa’a national forest reserve susceptibility to fire under
climate change. Forest Science and Technology, 15(3), 140-
146.https://doi.org/10.1080/21580103.2019.1628109.

Andreastuti, D. (2016). "Analysis of participatory leadership in forest and land fire control."
Journal of Social and Political Sciences. 12, 132-136.

Apryani, Ni Wayan Ella. 2018. "Clearing of Forest Land in a Human Rights Perspective:
Study of Land Burning Related to Local Wisdom." Journal of the Law of Udayana, 22,
6, 187-196.

Badri, Muhammad, Djuara P Lubis, Djoko Susanto, and Didik Suharjito. 2018. "Early
Warning Communication System for Forest and Land Fire Prevention in Riau
Province." Journal of Communication and Development Research.22, 58, 156-163.

Danny, W., (2001). Ecological and socio-economic interactions with fires in the forests of
east kalimantan province, Indonesia. Presentation Paper at the Forestry Training Center.
Bogor. 58, 18, 111-119.

Fitriansyah, A. and. Alfirman. (2017). "Mobile Web-Based Information System on Forest

and Land Fire Impacts in Riau Province." National Journal of Technology and
Information Systems 3 (1). 142-143.

Gintoe, C. S. (2019). Responsibilities of multinational enterprises in forest fires in Indonesia.

Legal Horizon Journal. 22, 52, 158-174.

Hanifah, M. Lailan, S. and Indah, I. (2016). The detection of burnt area using medium
resolution satellite imagery of modis based on Fire Index Approach." Journal of Natural
Resources and Environmental Management.12, 158-163.

Marbyanto, E. (2003). Development of community-based fire management programs.

Experience of the IFFM project in east Kalimantan. Proceedings of the SCKPFP-EU
Cooperation Workshop and the Banjar Regional Government. Martapura.

Nurdin, N. (2016). The impact of understanding of value of experience on communication

prevention of forest and land fire (Study of Fire Concerned Communities in Sepahat
Bukit Batu Village, Bengkalis Regency)." Journal of Minutes. 112, 21, 166-169.
1045
 International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. www.ijicc.net
Volume 14, Issue 3, 2020

Prasetyo, D. Y. (2013). Information systems study program, faculty of engineering and

computer science Indragiri Islamic University (UNISI). Journal of System, 2. 1, 111-
113.

Prayuda, R. Arsy, S. R, Handoko T. (2019). Construction of the norms and values of ASEAN
towards drug trafficking in Southeast Asia. International Journal of Innovation,
Creativity and Change. Volume 10, Issue 3, 100-103.

Rokhiman, M. (2016). Smoke disasters in Kapuas district introduction. Reflective

Sociology.10, 147-152.

Sasmoko, D. and Ari,e M. (2017). Design of Iot-Based Fire detection system and sms
gateway using arduino. Symmetrical: Journal of Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and
Computer Science. 89, 33, 123-132.

Soeriaatmadja, RE (1997). The impact of forest fire and the responsiveness of environmental
management and natural resources on it. Proceedings of the Symposium: "The Impact
of Forest Fires on Natural Resources and the Environment". December 16, 1997 in
Yogyakarta.10, 14, 155-159.

Sudibyakto. (2003). Climate anomaly and forest fire mitigation in Indonesia. Indonesian
Geography Magazine 17 (1): 71–80. https://jurnal.ugm.ac.id/mgi/article/view/13257.

Sukamto, I. Daqiqil, I. and Rahmilia A. T. (2018). "determination of fire point prone areas in
Riau province using K-Means Algorithm clustering (determination of fire point prone
areas in Riau province Using K-Means Algorithm Clustering)." Juita VI (November
2018).

Sukana, B. and Dina, B. (2016). The occurrence of Ispa and pneumonia due to forest fires in
Pulang Pisau Regency, Central Kalimantan Province." Journal of Health Ecology.14,
21, 116-136.

Wilson, S. R. and Roza, Y. (2017). The Role of Farmers Groups and Fire Concerned
Communities (MPA) in managing and preventing land fires in bukit batu district,
bengkalis regency. Agribusiness Journal. 454, 12, 199-206.

Zamil, Y. S. (2015). "Control of granting of land use rights for land as efforts to prevent
forest damage due to forest area encroachment conducted by deforesta on by planta
plantation on control of granting of land use rights for land. Journal of Legal Studies.
125, 154-156.

1046