Rawa Tripa Records 43 Times More Hotspots Than 2025

The presence of heavy machinery suggests the damage cannot merely be attributed to the activities of local farmers seeking to meet their daily livelihoods. This finding once again emphasized weak government oversight and poor peatland ecosystem governance, which continue to enable encroachment and environmental degradation to recur.

The Tripa Peat Swamp, which forms part of the Leuser Ecosystem Area (KEL), was designated as a protected area under Qanun No. 19 of 2013 because it contains peat deposits exceeding three metres in depth. Structured exploitation of this ecosystem poses a fatal threat to regional climate resilience. According to Pantau Gambut's latest findings, the continued recurrence of illegal land clearing is directly proportional to the sharp increase in forest and land fires across Aceh.

Between January-May 2026, Pantau Gambut detected 2,715 hotspots across Aceh Province. Aceh Selatan Regency recorded the highest number with 918 hotspots, followed by Aceh Barat Regency with 740 hotspots, and Nagan Raya Regency with 528 hotspots. The number of hotspots in Nagan Raya Regency represents a 43 folds increase compared to the same period in the previous year, when only 12 hotspots were recorded.

These findings in Aceh represent one of the highest hotspot concentrations across all Peat Hydrological Units (PHU) in Indonesia, with a total of 28,039 hotspots. Of these, 18,064 hotspots were detected within Protected Peat Ecosystem Functions (Fungsi Lindung Ekosistem Gambut/FLEG), while 9,975 hotspots occurred within Cultivation Peat Ecosystem Functions (Fungsi Budidaya Ekosistem Gambut/FBEG). This cumulative figure also increased from 23,546 hotspots recorded during the January-April period. These data reinforce concerns about peatland drainage through canal construction, together with land conversion for monoculture plantations, remains a dominant driver of recurring fires.

Legal and Advocacy Manager at HAkA, Muhammad Fahmi, stressed about these chronic forest and land fires demonstrate a systemic failure in the prevention and monitoring of critical ecosystems. "Tripa Peat Swamp is paying the price for years of failed prevention. If this cycle of fires continues unchecked, the consequences will extend beyond the loss of land, but also will amount to the loss of ecosystem functions that sustain the livelihoods and well-being of the people of Aceh."

Complementing this statement, Director of Law Enforcement at Auriga Nusantara, Roni Saputra, stated that the recurring forest and land fires in the Tripa Peat Swamp reflect the ineffectiveness of legal sanctions against environmental offenders. According to him, the government must shift its focus from merely extinguishing fires to holding the principal actors who profit from them accountable. "As long as the government remains preoccupied with extinguishing fires without having the courage to bring the masterminds who profit from them to justice, fires in the Tripa Peat Swamp will persist as an annual cycle that continues to sacrifice both communities and the environment," Roni stressed.

In light of these conditions, Pantau Gambut, Auriga Nusantara, and HAkA call on the government to:

1. Reform law enforcement and ensure transparency in investigations.
   The government must immediately include a Peat Ecosystem Protection Bill based on Peat Hydrological Units (PHUs) in the National Legislative Program (Prolegnas), while conducting comprehensive investigations, ensuring transparency to the public, and imposing firm legal sanctions without compromise against corporations found responsible for burning or damaging the Tripa Peat Swamp ecosystem, in order to break the cycle of impunity.
2. Strengthen peatland mitigation and restoration systems.
   This emergency demands stronger early-warning systems through field patrols and real-time hotspot monitoring, accompanied by accelerated peat hydrological restoration through canal blocking in degraded areas.
3. Collaborate with Indigenous Peoples to ensure long-term protection.
   The government must engage local communities and Indigenous Peoples through a rights-based approach, positioning them as primary partners in ecosystem monitoring under a collaborative framework grounded in the fulfilment of their rights.

Putra Saptian, Campaign Officer at Pantau Gambut, also stated: " The recurring fires in the Tripa Peat Swamp are not the result of a lack of regulations, but because the existing legal framework remains fragmented and has yet to place peatland protection within a single, comprehensive framework. Without a Peat Ecosystem Protection Bill, the government will remain trapped in responding to fires without ever addressing the structural causes behind them."