Forging a Fire-Free Future: Examining Collaborative Governance Approaches to Tackle Forest and Land Fires in Indonesia

Abstract

Addressing the environmental crisis, one of the most pressing global issues is undoubtedly global warming, which poses a significant threat to human well-being (Othman et al., 2009). As countries increasingly recognize the urgency of the situation, they are actively seeking ways to mitigate the escalation of global warming. Among the prominent strategies for curbing its impact is the strategic utilization of tropical rainforests, often called the "lungs of the world." Tropical rainforests hold immense potential in their capacity to absorb carbon emissions stemming from human-driven industrial activities (Alviya et al., 2018; Hepburn, 2007; Jaenicke et al., 2010; Kiely et al., 2019; Liu et al., 2015; Muttaqin et al., 2019). By acting as carbon sinks, these ecosystems play a critical role in sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide and thus mitigating the greenhouse gas effect that drives global warming. Indonesian rainforests are vital for the world in preventing climate change. Indonesia is a country that has a large forest area. Therefore, Indonesia can be crucial in saving the climate from global warming. However, what happened was that Indonesia became one of the countries experiencing deforestation the fastest (Carmenta et al., 2017; Dohong et al., 2018; Muttaqin et al., 2019; Ruysschaert & Hufty, 2020; Saputra, 2019). Most deforestation occurs due to illegal logging and the large-scale opening of oil palm plantations (Amacher et al., 2012; Damayatanti, 2013; Hasyim et al., 2020; Jaenicke et al., 2010; Masria et al., 2015). Indonesia is the largest producer of palm oil in the world, whose derivative products are used by many countries around the world (Budiman et al., 2020; Cooper et al., 2019; Gunawan, 2018; Jaenicke et al., 2010; Purnomo et al., 2017a, 2017b, 2019; Runkle & Kutzbach, 2014; Ruysschaert & Hufty, 2020).