Dealing with land and forest fires through improvement of regulations

Abstract

One of the root causes of the forest and land fires is the regulatory problem. In this case there are two regulatory problems that cause the forest and land fires to continue to recur and ultimately have the potential to be transactional (corrupt). The first problem is that the regulations that still exist today, both at the national level such as Law No. 32/2009 on Environmental Protection and Management (PPLH) and Law No. 41/1999 on forestry and at the regional level (Local Regulations) still allow communities to clear land by burning land. The Constitutional Justice explained in the minutes of the preliminary examination of the Constitutional Court number 25/PUU-XV/2017 states that clearing land by burning land by the community is part of local wisdom that must be protected. The second problem is the responsibility of strict liability which is imposed on corporations by referring to article 88 of the PPLH Law, although as described, that responsibility of strict liability is not rightly imposed on forest and land fires. In essence, the responsibility of strict liability is imposed immediately, this is then inappropriate if it is imposed in the case of forest and land fire, the applicable legal principle is the polluter pays principle.