Indonesia’s new peatland agency to get greater powers, but more work needed to stop forest fires

JAKARTA: Environmental experts have welcomed Indonesia’s plan to establish a national peatland and mangrove agency with greater powers and wider scope of responsibilities, saying such a body is needed to protect these fragile ecosystems from recurring wildfires and deliberate burning.The new National Peatland and Mangrove Management Agency (BPGMN) will report directly to President Prabowo Subianto.The new outfit will also likely have powers to manage permits as well as determine which areas are suitable for agriculture and which should be preserved for conservation, unlike its predecessor, the Peatland and Mangrove Restoration Agency (BRGM) which ran from 2016 to 2024. Its powers were more restorative and preventative in nature.“The proposal to establish a peatland and mangrove management agency is a good one,” Bambang Hero Saharjo, a professor in environmental sciences and forest fire forensics expert from IPB University, told CNA. “Peatlands and mangroves are crucial to the environment because both hold significant carbon reserves. This means that mismanaging either ecosystem could have serious consequences.” WHAT THE NEW AGENCY ENTAILSOn Sep 24, Prabowo ordered the establishment of BPGMN to oversee peatland and mangrove management, restoration and conservation, following a meeting with scientists and senior government officials to discuss peatland management and forest and land fire prevention.The body is also tasked with leading fire prevention efforts, particularly in six provinces: Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan where large swaths of peatlands are burning every year.“We agree that we need this agency. It must exist – the National Peatland and Mangrove Management Agency. It will not be under a ministry but directly under the president,” Prabowo said on Sep 24, according to a statement issued by the Indonesian Presidential Office. Jakarta has yet to announce its detailed structure, powers or budget. But Indonesian Minister of Forestry Raja Juli Antoni told reporters after the meeting that the new agency will be staffed by professionals and experts “who truly understand about peatlands and mangroves”. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto (centre) leading a meeting with scientists and senior government officials on Sep 24, during which he ordered the establishment of an agency to oversee peatland and mangrove management. (Photo: Indonesian Presidential Secretariat) The decision came as Indonesia grapples with its most serious wildfire season in years.Official figures show around 202,000ha had burned between January and July, while satellite-based estimates suggest the figure had surged to nearly 896,000ha by the end of August.By comparison 218,000ha burned between January 2025 and August 2025 and 328,000ha burned during the same eight months of 2019, another El Nino year. It is not clear how many of the fires occurred on peatlands this year but historically it has hovered between 40 per cent and 50 per cent, according to data from the forestry ministry.The human toll has also mounted. Indonesia’s health ministry recorded nearly 175,000 cases of acute respiratory infections in areas affected by forest and land fires between Aug 18 and Sep 21, including more than 40,000 cases involving children under five. Motorists pass through a burning wildfire next to a major road in Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra, Indonesia on Sep 11, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Wisnu Agung Prasetyo) Haze from fires in Indonesia has also drifted across its borders, worsening air quality in neighbouring countries like Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.Peatlands are made of compacted partially decomposed organic materials which have accumulated over hundreds or even thousands of years. Once ignited, fires can spread underground and smoulder for weeks, making them difficult to detect and fully put out. LIMITATIONS OF PREDECESSOR Like the new BPGMN, its predecessor (BRGM) was set up in 2016 under previous president, Joko Widodo, as a response to the 2015 forest fires when 2.6 million ha of land was burned. However, its limited powers, such as restoring burned peatlands and making sure they did not catch fire again, meant its success was limited too, said observers.But its powers over peatlands and mangroves were largely confined to restoring degraded areas and preventing them from burning again.“Success was limited because we could only work with small-scale farmers and communities. We could not make any intervention on palm oil or forest concessions,” Nyoman Suryadiputra, an independent ecologist and former BRGM member, told CNA. A worker harvests palm oil fruit at a small-scale farm in Musi Banyuasin, South Sumatra. (Photo: CNA/Wisnu Agung Prasetyo) That meant rewetted and revegetated lands were prone to catching fires again, since they share the same peat ecosystem with plantations that are beyond BRGM’s reach. By the end of its mandate, BRGM said it had restored around 1.6 million ha of peatland. But some environmental groups and researchers have questioned such figures, including what the government counted as “restored” and whether interventions resulted in lasting ecological recovery.The agency ceased operations after its second mandate expired in December 2024, despite calls for the newly inaugurated Prabowo administration to make the ad hoc body permanent.Following its dissolution, responsibility for managing and restoring peatlands and mangroves was divided among the forestry, environment and marine affairs ministries.“Despite its limitations, BRGM played an important role in bridging the various ministries and government agencies responsible for different aspects of peatland and mangrove management,” Nyoman said. “We need that bridge back,” he said, adding that officials from the ministry of agriculture and the ministry for spatial planning also need to be involved in the planned agency.Forestry minister Raja said on Sep 24 that the new body will be different from BRGM, which he said had “limited authority”."The BRGM was akin to a directorate general of the Ministry for the Environment. (The new agency) will not be under the Ministry for the Environment, not under the Ministry of Forestry, but under the president directly,” Raja said as quoted by Detik news portal. Indonesian Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni (right) speaking at a press conference at the presidential palace in Jakarta on Sep 24, 2026. (Photo: Indonesian Presidential Secretariat) While the government has yet to spell out the new agency’s powers, structure and budget, Raja said its position directly under the president would give it greater authority and a more strategic role.Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Brian Yuliarto said it is possible that the new body will get to manage permits as well as determine which areas are suitable for agriculture and which should be preserved for conservation. “Having data and management permits handled by a single institution will significantly streamline processes, ultimately making it easier to implement various preventive measures and other actions,” Brian told reporters on Sep 24, as quoted by the Indonesian Cabinet Secretariat website.But environmental activists cautioned that reshuffling responsibilities under a new agency would achieve little unless the government also gives it measurable targets and the regulatory powers needed to achieve them.“BPGMN must have a mandate, authority, indicators of success and working mechanisms that are capable of addressing the root of the problem,” said Uli Arta Siagian, national executive campaign coordinator at the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI).“A change in institutional structure does not in itself guarantee better governance,” she added.Greenpeace Indonesia senior researcher Sapta Ananda Proklamasi similarly argued that establishing a new agency should be accompanied by stronger regulations governing peatlands as entire landscapes, rather than treating individual areas in isolation.“Instead of simply rushing to establish a new agency, the government should simultaneously introduce strong and comprehensive landscape-based regulations to protect peatlands,” Sapta said. A firefighter battling a wildfire next to a palm oil plantation in Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra on Sep 12, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Wisnu Agung Prasetyo) BUILT TO LAST?But stronger regulations will mean little if they are not enforced, experts said.Indonesian regulations require groundwater levels in managed peatlands to be maintained at no more than 40cm below the surface, a measure intended to keep the peat moist and reduce the risk of fire. Yet during his time at BRGM, Nyoman said he encountered peatlands where the water table had fallen as far as 1.5m below the surface.“No single agency is capable of monitoring all 20 million ha of peatlands across Indonesia,” the independent expert said.“Rather than trying to take over every function itself, the new agency should act as a mediator, bridge and initiator that can get ministries, local governments, researchers, businesses and communities to work towards the same objectives.”By law, companies that fail to protect their groundwater level can face administrative sanctions ranging from orders to restore damaged areas to the suspension or revocation of their permits. If the infraction causes the land to catch fire, company officials can face criminal charges and be punished by up to 15 years in prison jail terms and/or a fine of up to 10 billion rupiah (US$558,784). As of Sep 29, the environment ministry said it has suspended 57 companies after inspections identified some 34,636 ha of burned land within their areas. Separately, the forestry ministry said it had imposed administrative sanctions on 26 entities linked to fires covering nearly 11,000 hectares. Thirteen had their permits suspended and five had their permits revoked, while eight received warnings.But experts noted that such enforcement generally comes only after fires have broken out.“The new agency should ideally have strong authority to monitor compliance, evaluate restoration efforts and put pressure on regulators and law enforcement agencies to step up enforcement,” Mahawan Karuniasa, an environmental science expert from University of Indonesia, told CNA.Mahawan said Prabowo should also design the new agency to be a permanent institution and not a temporary one like the BRGM. “The government should not repeat a short-term, ad hoc approach to long-term ecological problems,” he said.“Restoring peatlands and mangroves takes decades. BPGMN therefore needs to be designed with long-term institutional continuity, funding and monitoring.”