Testing the Consistency of Forest Wealth Conservation

SAVING forest wealth demands national consistency until all responsibilities of businesses are fulfilled and ecological functions are restored.

Regulating areas and restoring state revenue is a crucial step toward improving natural resource management.

However, this success still leaves questions about the fate of areas that have been reclaimed, corporate responsibility, and the protection of communities living nearby.

ANTARA reported that the Attorney General's Commission has reminded that the achievements in regulation need to be followed by accountability for law enforcement, revenue management, and area restoration.

This warning positions consistency as a measure to assess whether the government's assertiveness produces lasting change after the ceremony of handover concludes.

Forest wealth will continue to diminish if regulation is not accompanied by the ability to prevent further damage.

A release from the Ministry of Forestry on October 15, 2026, indicated that monitoring from SiPongi until October 14 detected 372 hotspots with a high confidence level nationwide.

Hotspots are indicators that require field inspection, so their numbers do not directly indicate the number of incidents or the extent of fires.

Nevertheless, this information serves as a reminder that forest protection requires daily supervision, preparedness to face fires, and compliance from permit holders.

Thus, the consistency of the state is also reflected in its ability to maintain areas to prevent repeated ecological loss.

The significant income from forest regulation demands transparent and accountable management.

According to an ANTARA report on October 9, 2026, citing information from the APBN KiTa press conference, the accumulation of revenues from the Forest Area Regulation Task Force (Satgas Penertiban Kawasan Hutan) during 2025–2026 reached Rp 57.1 trillion.

This income consists of Rp 38.65 trillion recorded as Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP) and fines, along with Rp 18.45 trillion in tax revenue.

This fiscal achievement needs to be accompanied by transparency regarding revenue sources, accounting periods, and obligations fulfilled by business actors.

Through such transparency, the public can assess the relationship between collected revenues, remaining corporate responsibilities, and the implementation of forest restoration.

Accuracy in interpreting figures is part of the accountability for saving state wealth.

The accumulation of Rp 57.1 trillion has a different scope from the eighth phase of handovers on October 6, 2026, valued at approximately Rp 13.24 trillion.

The eighth phase of handover includes administrative forestry fines, Non-Tax State Revenue from handling specific criminal acts, and tax revenue.

Due to the diversity of its types of revenue, the overall amount cannot directly be considered as compensation for all ecological damages caused by forest destruction.

The government needs to explain the relationship between figures and obligations that have been resolved to ensure that appreciation for fiscal achievements progresses alongside a clear assessment of environmental responsibilities that still need to be met.

Developments in law enforcement regarding forest fires demonstrate the importance of ensuring that sanctions and obligations for restoration are truly implemented.

In a release on October 19, 2026, the Directorate General of Forestry Law Enforcement reported that the number of companies subject to administrative sanctions related to forest and land fires increased from 26 to 32 companies.

The area burned associated with these companies is reported to reach 12,926.74 hectares, with actions including permit suspensions, mandatory ecosystem restoration, and permit revocations.

The data on handling forest and land fires provides insight into the use of law enforcement instruments but cannot be treated as an addition to the area reclaimed by the Forest Area Regulation Task Force (PKH).

The next measure is the certainty of implementing sanctions, progress in recovery, and the ability to monitor to prevent similar violations from reoccurring.