This Regency Plans to Protect One Million Hectares of Peatland

TheIndonesia.id - The Government of Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) Regency, South Sumatra, compiled a Peat Ecosystem Protection and Management Plan (RPPEG) document by involving relevant agencies and the community to manage 1.03 million hectares of peatland. This protection is considered crucial considering that the peat ecosystem in Ogan Komering Ilir reaches 49.3 percent of the total area of the peat ecosystem in South Sumatra Province.

Secretary of the OKI Regency Environmental Service M Denin in Kayuagung said the Peat Ecosystem Protection and Management Plan (RPPEG) document is a written plan that contains the potential, problems of the peat ecosystem, as well as efforts to protect and manage it. The RPPEG document is a written planning document that contains the potential, problems of the peat ecosystem, as well as efforts to protect and manage it, he said on Sunday, April 17, 2022.

As a regency with the largest area of peat hydrological unit (KHG) in South Sumatra, OKI Regency ranks at the top in terms of the area of protection and cultivation functions of the peat ecosystem of South Sumatra. More than 50 percent of the area of cultivation function or the equivalent of 0.448 million hectares is in the administrative area of this district.

"The RPPEG document is a corrective action effort in managing the peat ecosystem," said Denin.

Deputy Chairperson of the South Sumatra River Watershed (DAS) Forum, Karlin Agustina, said that RPPEG is a mandate from Government Regulation (PP) of the Republic of Indonesia Number 71 of 2014 as amended by Government Regulation Number 57 of 2016 concerning Protection and Management of Peat Ecosystems. "The PP gives a mandate to the Minister, Governor, and Regent/Mayor to compile and determine RPPEG according to their authority," said Karlin.

She explained that the preparation of the RPPEG document contained a long-term plan for the management and protection of peatlands for the next 30 years. RPPEG document contains analysis and recommendations on various forms of ideal peat ecosystem management.

Then the analysis is summarized in a provincial and regency level peat ecosystem protection and management plan document. She explained that this document is very important because OKI Regency has a peatland area of approximately 49.3 percent so it is vulnerable to the risk of forest and land fires.

"If there is a forest fire, it will cause huge losses socially, economically, and environmentally for the community," she said.

Previously, a severe forest fire had hit Ogan Komering Ilir Regency in 2015 which scorched hundreds of thousands of hectares of land.