President Prabowo to Establish Peatland and Mangrove Management Agency

President Prabowo Subianto has decided to establish the National Peatland and Mangrove Management Agency (BPGMN) as an effort to strengthen the prevention of forest and land fires and the management of peatland and mangrove ecosystems. The decision was announced after President Prabowo led a discussion with academics from various research institutions and universities at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Thursday (09/24).

Minister of Forestry Raja Juli Antoni said that the establishment of BPGMN was one of the important decisions made during the meeting. The agency will prioritize the prevention of forest and land fires, particularly in areas with peatlands.

“One of the important decisions, particularly in the forestry sector and regarding forest and land fires, is that Mr. President has decided to establish an agency called the National Peatland and Mangrove Management Agency, or BPGMN,” he said.

The Minister underscored that the agency would focus on prevention, which is considered more effective and efficient than reactive measures. Unlike previous institutional arrangements, BPGMN will be directly under the President and staffed by scientists and professionals.

“Our purpose is prevention. We realize that prevention is far more important, effective, and efficient than reactive actions,” he said.

According to the Minister, the agency will also be provided with an adequate budget to support forest fire prevention efforts, particularly in six provinces with peatland areas, including Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan. He said the establishment of the agency also demonstrated President Prabowo’s openness to input from scientists.

“This is a good initiative, and it also shows Mr. President’s openness to receiving input, evaluations, and even criticism from scientists,” he said.

Meanwhile, Head of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Arif Satria said President Prabowo appreciated the participation of researchers and scientists in the discussion. He said BRIN would support the establishment and role of BPGMN, particularly in strengthening early warning systems and hotspot detection.

“BRIN has been asked to support the existence and role of this agency, particularly in early detection and hotspot detection. We have been doing this and have worked with the Ministry of Forestry. Now, we will continue to improve it with increasingly advanced AI so that we can anticipate forest fires even earlier,” he said.

Besides strengthening technology, President Prabowo also emphasized the importance of a village-based precision prevention approach. Under this approach, village communities will play an important role in prevention efforts because of their proximity to and strong sense of ownership of the resources in their surroundings, including through the Masyarakat Peduli Api (MPA) community.

The Head of BRIN added that the discussion also covered strengthening technological and economic solutions. The technologies discussed included water injection, village-level pumps, and alternative materials for firefighting. Meanwhile, economic solutions included developing livelihoods for communities living around the affected areas.

“So, the economic solution is needed because 41 million people live around peatland hydrological areas. Therefore, we also need to consider livelihoods for the short, medium, and long term,” he said.

“We also discussed sago as a potential long-term solution because sago takes approximately eight years [to be harvested]. Coffee could be a medium-term solution, while several horticultural crops are considered effective for the very short term,” he concluded.  (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat) (FI/MMB)