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| Dr. Darmae Nasir, the government has historically scapegoated traditional farmers for these massive forest fires. |
PALANGKA RAYA - BORNEO-TRAVEL: The recurring peatland forest fires devastating Kalimantan are rooted deeply in a critical clash between official government land use planning and customary land ownership.
This systemic failure has sparked widespread frustration among local communities, leading them to stand by as fires consume the landscape; a crisis that threatens both Indonesia's remaining tropical carbon sinks and Kalimantan’s booming ecotourism industry.
According to peatland expert Dr. Darmae Nasir, the government has historically scapegoated traditional farmers for these massive forest fires. He argues that this blame game intentionally masks a unilateral state agenda regarding land allocation, which overrides indigenous territories.
"The root of the problem is the complete lack of policy consistency, which ultimately shifts the blame onto local farmers," Dr. Nasir stated during an interview on Sunday.
Official Land Use vs. Customary Land
Dr. Nasir explained that while the state's zoning maps classify these areas strictly as state-owned forest zones where farming is penalized, local communities are simply cultivating their ancestral lands (customary land).
This institutional disconnect leaves traditional farmers caught in a legal trap, transforming sustainable, generation-old agricultural practices into criminalized acts under official land use planning.
This territorial dispute has exacted a heavy psychological toll on Kalimantan's indigenous populations. Decades of disenfranchisement have severed the communities' traditional role as guardians of the forest. When the state revokes their land rights, it strips away their incentive to protect the ecosystem.
"Local people are deeply frustrated, so they end up letting the fires run rampant. Even if the fire is burning right next to their houses, they just don't care anymore. They feel that the land no longer belongs to them," Dr. Nasir revealed bluntly. This severe breakdown in community-based firefighting is a primary reason why modern peatland fires become so massive and unmanageable.
A Direct Threat to Kalimantan’s Ecotourism
The environmental fallout from this apathy is catastrophic. Kalimantan's peat swamp forests are global biodiversity hotspots, home to endangered orangutans, proboscis monkeys, and rare tropical flora.
The resulting toxic haze and habitat destruction hit Kalimantan’s ecotourism sector hard, devastating local economies that rely on international travelers visiting national parks like Tanjung Puting or Sebangau. Beyond losing eco-travel revenues, the burning of deep peat layers releases millions of tons of carbon dioxide, accelerating global climate change and turning a local land dispute into a global ecological crisis.
Critique of Disaster Policy
Dr. Nasir also directed sharp criticism at Indonesia's Disaster Management Law, arguing that outdated legal frameworks prevent these recurring environmental crises from being declared national disasters. He slammed the current regulations for relying on what he terms a flawed, fatalistic metric.
"Indonesia's disaster law relies on a stupid indicator," Dr. Nasir concluded. "It only counts the number of victims who have already died, entirely ignoring the short- and long-term impacts on the survivors who suffer through the aftermath of the disaster."
The combination of ignored customary land rights, local social frustration, and inadequate disaster metrics creates a perfect storm, leaving Kalimantan’s unique environment and ecotourism potential highly vulnerable to seasonal burning.
Reporter: Rangkaya Bada
