Prabowo Directs 'Village-Centric Approach' for Forest Fire Prevention

President Prabowo of Indonesia has instructed that future forest and land fire (Karhutla) prevention measures be based on village-level communities. This was revealed by the Head of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Arif Satria, following a meeting with the President at the Presidential Palace Complex in Jakarta on Thursday (24/9/2026). According to Arif, President Prabowo is convinced that village communities possess a strong "sense of belonging" towards their surrounding environment and forest resources. Therefore, the President emphasizes a "village-centric precision prevention" approach, implementing fire prevention activities precisely at the village level. "The President also emphasized that the future prevention approach will be based on village-centric precision prevention. This village-centric precision prevention shows that the President believes that village communities have a very high sense of belonging towards the resources around them," Arif said. Furthermore, the President believes that village communities are capable of preventing Karhutla through the Community Fire Watch (Masyarakat Peduli Api: MPA). Arif stated that the MPA will be revitalized and strengthened to become the backbone of Karhutla prevention. "The MPA will be empowered and strengthened. The Community Fire Watch is a community group that has been considered effective all this time. Therefore, it needs to be empowered and revitalized, but the key is that villages will be the foundation for future forest fire prevention," he explained. On another note, Arif expressed his support for the establishment of a National Peat and Mangrove Management Agency to prevent Karhutla in the future. He mentioned that BRIN will prepare artificial intelligence (AI) capable of anticipating Karhutla as early as possible. Additionally, BRIN is preparing technological and economic solutions for handling Karhutla, including water injection, village-level pumps, and alternative fuels. "However, economic solutions were also discussed. So, economic solutions are related to the fact that 41 million people live around peat hydrological areas, so we also need to think about short-term, medium-term, and long-term livelihoods," Arif added.