Regulation Watch · Environmental Compliance · Indonesia. The instruction applies nationally and directs ministers, national agencies, police, prosecutors, governors, regents and mayors to enforce the no-burn framework. It is relevant to landowners, concession and rights holders, agricultural, plantation, forestry, mining, infrastructure and property businesses, including PT PMA and PT PMDN companies and their directors and site managers.
Indonesia Tightens Enforcement Against Land Clearing by Fire
Inpres 11/2026 orders coordinated criminal, civil and administrative enforcement against people, corporations, rights holders and officials who burn, order, facilitate or allow forest and land fires.
- Published
- Inpres 11/2026 was issued and signed by the President on 31 August 2026. The official Ministry of Forestry JDIH metadata records 31 August 2026 as both the establishment and promulgation date. Regulation Watch recorded the instrument on 4 November 2026 as a late-discovered material national enforcement measure.
- Effective
- 31 August 2026, the date stated in the signed instruction. The instruction contains no general transition period.
- Added to Watch
- 4 November 2026
Who is affected
Foreign and domestic investors, PT PMA and PT PMDN companies, directors and shareholders, owners and occupiers of land, holders of land rights, forestry concessions and business permits, plantation and agricultural operators, mining and infrastructure projects, developers, contractors, tenants responsible for land operations, local government officials, and environmental, legal, licensing, security, risk and site-management teams.
Practical impact
The instruction converts the national no-burn policy into a coordinated enforcement mandate. Authorities must enforce criminal, civil and administrative consequences against any person, corporation, rights holder or official who burns, orders, facilitates or allows a forest or land fire. Regional policies, permits, approvals or official discretion may not authorise or be interpreted as authorising burning. The traditional-practice exception is narrow, cumulative and unavailable to corporations: it is limited to an individual community member using fire for household subsistence on no more than two hectares per household, with an adequate firebreak and fire-control support, outside peat, a 500-metre peat buffer, protected areas and river setbacks, outside the dry season or an El Nino period, with regent or mayor permission and prior reporting. Permit and concession holders are expected to maintain fire-prevention resources, patrol and early-warning controls, fire crews, water-management infrastructure where relevant and documentary evidence of compliance.
The President issued Inpres 11/2026 on 31 August 2026 to strengthen enforcement of the prohibition on clearing land by fire and improve forest and land fire control. The instruction took effect immediately and binds the named ministries, agencies, police, prosecutors and regional governments. It does not replace the environmental, forestry, plantation, land, criminal or permit rules that supply the underlying offences and sanctions.
The central instruction is broader than the act of lighting a fire. Authorities must enforce criminal, civil and administrative consequences against any individual, corporation, rights holder or public official that burns, orders, facilitates or allows a forest or land fire. Police and prosecutors are specifically directed to investigate and prosecute offenders, including corporate actors and responsible directors, while national and regional agencies must use their supervisory and administrative powers.
Local approval cannot create a safe harbour. The instruction prohibits regional policies, legal products, permits, approvals or official discretion that authorise or can be interpreted as authorising forest or land burning. Governors, regents and mayors must supervise permit holders, rights holders and concession holders and ensure that each one maintains adequate fire-prevention personnel, equipment and infrastructure.
The traditional-practice exception is strictly cumulative and is not available to corporations. It applies only to an individual community member using fire for household subsistence, on no more than two hectares per household, without commercial purpose, with an adequate firebreak and fire-control assistance. The site cannot be peat, within 500 metres of peat, in a protected area or within a river setback. The activity cannot take place during the dry season or an El Nino period, requires regent or mayor permission and must be reported in advance to the village and the relevant forestry or agricultural office.
The operating standard for a business is prevention and evidence. A land-based business should maintain patrols, early warning, trained fire crews, equipment, water sources, access routes and escalation procedures. Where peat or water management is relevant, it should also document water levels and maintain canals, water-control structures and other prevention infrastructure. A paper policy without field readiness is unlikely to answer an investigation into a fire that the company was able to prevent or control.
The Ministry of Environment had already issued Circular 16/2026 directing regional governments to prohibit burning, increase patrols and supervision and verify the readiness of business-permit holders. The later presidential instruction strengthens that direction across the enforcement chain. BNPB subsequently confirmed that peat burning is not permitted during the dry season and treated Inpres 11/2026 as the operative nationwide enforcement instruction.
Investors should include fire exposure in land, lease, concession and acquisition due diligence. Review the target's historical hot spots, permits, contractor practices, prevention equipment, water-management records, incident reports and unresolved enforcement matters. Contracts should prohibit burning, allocate monitoring and response duties and preserve immediate termination, indemnity and evidence-access rights where a contractor or occupier creates fire risk.
Required action
- Adopt a written zero-burning rule for land clearing, waste disposal and site operations and extend it to employees, contractors, tenants, suppliers and neighbouring community programs under the company's control.
- Map every land parcel, concession, permit area, work site, peat indicator, protected-area boundary, river setback, access route and nearby fire-risk zone, then assign a named director or site leader to each operational area.
- Maintain an auditable fire-prevention plan covering patrols, hot-spot monitoring, early warning, trained fire crews, equipment, water sources, emergency access, communications, incident escalation and coordination with local authorities.
- For peat or other managed water areas, monitor and record water levels and maintain canals, water-control structures and other prevention infrastructure required by the applicable permit and technical rules.
- Review land, agricultural, plantation, forestry, mining, construction, environmental and contractor documents and remove any clause, local approval or field practice that assumes burning is permitted.
- Do not rely on the traditional-practice exception for a company, commercial project or contractor. If a neighbouring community activity may qualify, require written confirmation of every cumulative condition and the regent or mayor permission before treating it as lawful.
- Create an incident protocol that preserves weather, hot-spot, patrol, contractor, camera, witness and response records and immediately escalates any suspected burning, order, facilitation or failure to act.
- Include fire-prevention capability and prior incidents in land acquisition, lease, financing, investment and environmental due diligence, especially where the target holds land rights, concessions or business permits.