The role of forestry police in the prevention and eradication of forest destruction

Abstract

The issue of forest destruction in the North Buton region lately should have received serious attention from all parties. The nature reserve is one of the protected areas that have the function of conservation, sustainable use of biological natural resources and its ecosystem. One of them is the Wildlife Reserve Forest in Ronta Village, West Kulisusu District and Limited Production Forest in Kambowa, Torombia, Wantulasi, Korolabu and Bira Villages, North Kulisusu District, North Buton Regency. The objectives of this study are (1) To determine the role of the Forestry Police in the Prevention and Eradication of Forest Destruction Based on Law Number 18 of 2013 in North Buton Regency; (2) To determine the inhibiting factors of North Buton District Forestry Police in taking measures to Prevent and Eradicate Forest Destruction Based on Law Number 18 of 2013 in North Buton Regency. The method in this study is juridical empirical with the number of respondents from this study were 6 (six) members of the North Buton District Forestry Police. Data analysis using qualitative descriptive analysis. The results showed that: (1) The forest area of North Buton Regency is 135,362.38 Ha or 72% of the total area of North Buton Regency, which consists of: Ordinary Production Forests covering an area of 6,521.03 Ha, Limited Production Forests covering an area of 10,535.16 Ha, Production Forests that can be converted are 33,331.71 Ha, Protected Forests are 9,463.72 Ha and Wildlife Reserve Forests are 75,528.26 Ha. In these forest areas, there are several types of wood that have high economic value both for trade within the district and outside the North Buton Regency. Apart from wood, there are also other forest assets such as rattan, dammar, mace and others.(2) Factors that hinder the task of the Forestry Police in the Prevention and Eradication of Forest Destruction in North Buton Regency are: (a) Lack of public knowledge about forest functions, as well as applicable laws and regulations concerning forestry; (b) Lack of Forestry Police personnel; (c) Lack of budget; (d) Communities still consider forest as their main livelihood; (e) Lack of supervision from the competent agencies and related agencies; (f) The involvement of officers who back up the perpetrators of illegal logging.