Reminding The Impact Of Pollution, KLHK Urges Lampung Provincial Government To Remove Land Burning Policies During Tebu Harvest

Workers transport harvested sugar cane to be brought to PG Assembagoes Situbondo. (ANTARA-Novi Husdinariyanto)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) urges the Lampung Provincial Government (Pemprov) to immediately revoke sugarcane harvest rules by burning. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry views the policy as detrimental to society and the state directly. Director General of Environmental Law Enforcement and Forestry of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Ratio Ridho Sani, said Governor of Lampung Regulation Number 19 of 2023 which facilitates sugarcane harvest through combustion has slowed Indonesia's efforts to achieve the target of FOLU Net Sink 2030. "The practice of harvesting cane by burning has a very serious impact ranging from pollution and environmental damage to the environment, public health disturbances, as well as hampering Indonesia's commitment to climate change control," he said at a press conference at the Manggala Wanabakti Building, Jakarta, Monday. The harvest activity by burning by sugarcane plantation actors in Lampung is facilitated in Governor Lampung Regulation Number 33 of 2020 concerning Harvest Management and Productivity of Tebu Plants as amended by Governor of Lampung Regulation Number 19 of 2023.

In the Lampung Governor Regulation Number 33 of 2020 it is instructed that burning is limited to 10 hectares with a maximum burning time of 20 minutes. When the dry season of burning can only be done in the morning, while during the rainy season it can be done morning and evening. Then, the 2020 regulation also requires the preparation of burning to be controlled by positioning air quality measuring tools. As for the Lampung Governor Regulation Number 19 of 2023 adds to the sentence after the 10 hectare restriction clause, then the burning rule can be carried out simultaneously. Then, the burned rule considering the weather is removed. The latest regulation does not take into account the weather anymore because the weather is uncertain due to global warming. In fact, the air quality measuring instrument originally existed in the 2020 regulation was also removed in the 2023 rule. "The regulation has benefited the company because they reaped at a low cost through the burning practice," said Rasio. Furthermore, he said that the Minister of LHK once wrote to the Governor of Lampung to revoke the rule of the area, but that appeal was never heeded. Environmental Regulation The Directorate of the Environment of the Directorate General of Environmental Law Enforcement and Forestry of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry together with the community then went through judicial review efforts to the Supreme Court. Applications to judicial review rights have been granted by the Supreme Court of Judges with Supreme Court Decision Number 1P/HUM/2024 which states that the Governor of Lampung Regulation Number 19 of 2023 contradicts seven higher regulations, including the Plantation Law, the Environment Law, to the Regulation of the Minister of Agriculture regarding land clearing without burning. "In 2021, the initial calculations of land area burned in SIL and ILP companies reached 5.469 hectares. Meanwhile, the area of land burned in 2023 reached 14.492 hectares.