TANJUNG SELOR - The Forestry Service of North Kalimantan Province (Kaltara) will take firm action against forest additional actors in the territory of the Makanan Batu Benau Indigenous Law Community (MHA) Sajau Village, Tanjung Palas Timur District, Bulungan Regency.
Head of the Nature Reserve Area Protection Division (PKSDA) of the Kaltara Forestry Service (Dishut), Maryanto, explained that based on a report from MHA Punan Batu Benau, forest additions have occurred since 2023.
"This report has been followed up by the North Kalimantan Dishut by visiting a number of additional locations, the results found illegal activities such as swiping wood in the open land area," said Maryanto, Friday, February 7.
"This addition was carried out unevenly, there were tens of hectares of area, from the results of the examination the team also found that there was a sale and purchase of land carried out by parties claiming to occupy the land," he added.
This addition occurred in two locations, namely kilometer 37 and 57 of Sajau villages. The team that carried out the patrol also found an opening forest that had been planted with palm oil.
"The area that was added is also in Inhutani's contingency area which has a forest utilization permit from the ministry. They (Inhutani) should also report it," he said.
Currently, the North Kalimantan Dishut is still waiting for a firm stance from the Environmental and Forestry Law Enforcement Center (Gakkum) of Kalimantan section II, which is based in Samarinda.
"We have pocketed a number of names or parties responsible for this addition. It is hoped that Gakkum can be responsive, so that forest destruction does not spread further and disrupts the life of MHA Punan Batu Benau," he said.
Meanwhile, Representative of MHA Punan Batu Benau, Susut admitted that he had sent a letter of complaint to the North Kalimantan LHK Law Enforcement Post regarding the rampant forest addition activities.
Sasut said that forest added activity in the Punan Batu Benau area had occurred repeatedly.
"In this area, there has been an increase in forests using heavy equipment and buying and selling land to outsiders," he said.
MHA Punan Batu Benau hopes that action will be taken against forest additional activities in an area of 18,000 hectares (ha). In accordance with Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 5 of 2025, everyone who adds forest can be subject to sanctions in the form of fines to criminal sanctions.
"We hope that this forest added activity can be dealt with immediately," he said.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
