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What Is Karhutla? Meaning, Causes, Impacts, and Control

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Byadmin01
🕑 06 Nov 2026⏱ 8 min read1,469 words

Karhutla is short for kebakaran hutan dan lahan (forest and land fire) — the burning of forest and/or land areas where the fire spreads uncontrollably, whether driven by natural factors or human activity. In Indonesia the term is synonymous with dry-season fires that sweep forests, scrubland, peatland, and farmland and plantations, often producing haze. The government regulates its control through, among others, Minister of Environment and Forestry Regulation No. P.32/MenLHK/Setjen/Kum.1/3/2016 [1], covering prevention, suppression, and post-fire handling [2].

Karhutla at a Glance

  • Full term: forest and land fire.
  • Official monitoring system: SiPongi (Forest and Land Fire Monitoring Information System) [9].
  • Largest burned area in the last decade of SiPongi data: 2,611,411 hectares in 2015 [9].
  • Most recent fully recorded burned area: about 359,619 hectares in 2025 [10].
  • Main legal basis for the burning ban: the Forestry Law, the Environmental Protection and Management Law (UU PPLH), and the Plantations Law [19].

Section 01

Causes of Karhutla

Karhutla is rarely caused by a single factor. Academic studies identify the main cause as human activity in managing land, which meets extreme dry-season conditions such as the El Niño effect and is then worsened by already degraded land [3]. In other words, dry weather creates flammable conditions, while the fire itself usually starts from on-the-ground activity.

Earlier research also records ignition sources arising from negligence, such as discarding cigarette butts, as well as from land-clearing activity by communities, whether carried out by burning or without burning [4].

Section 02

Peatland and Mineral Land

Karhutla occurs across many land types. In January–September 2024, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) recorded a total karhutla area of 283,620.51 hectares, comprising peatland of 25,193.57 hectares (8.88%) and mineral soil 91.12%. The land cover with the largest burned area was scrubland, at 56.02% of the total [5].

Although its share of area is smaller, peatland fire receives special attention because it produces very large greenhouse gas emissions and smoke that affects public health and welfare [6].

Section 03

A Brief History and Karhutla Area Data

Large-scale karhutla is recorded in 1982–1983, 1991, 1994, 1997–1998, 2006, and 2015 [7]. Forest and land fire in Indonesia is also said to have occurred almost every year since 1997 [8]. The year 2015 is often associated with the El Niño effect and recorded more than 2.6 million hectares of forest and land burned [3].

Based on SiPongi data, the karhutla area fluctuates from year to year [9]:

Indonesian karhutla area in selected years
Year Burned area
2015 2,611,411 hectares
2019 about 1.65 million hectares
2020 296,942 hectares
2023 about 1.16 million hectares
2024 376,805 hectares
2025 about 359,619 hectares

The 2023–2025 figures show a downward trend from 1,161,192.90 hectares (2023) to 376,805.05 hectares (2024) and 359,619.42 hectares (2025) [10]. For 2026, SiPongi recorded a national burned area of 202,010.96 hectares in January–August, with West Kalimantan highest (38,310.86 hectares) [11]. Current-year figures are provisional because national counting is continually updated [12].

Note on reading the data: karhutla figures can differ between institutions because of differences in territorial coverage, period, and method. For example, the World Bank reported more than 942 thousand hectares burned in 2019 [13] in an assessment covering eight provinces in June–October 2019 [14], while the SiPongi recap for the same year was around 1.65 million hectares [9].

Section 04

Impacts of Karhutla

Health

By September 2019, more than 900,000 people were reported to have suffered respiratory disorders from fire and haze, and 12 national airports temporarily stopped operating [15]. In 2015, Riau Province recorded more than 97,000 residents suffering illness from smoke, including 81,514 cases of acute respiratory tract infection (ISPA) [16].

Economy

The World Bank recorded losses from the 2015 fire and haze at Rp221 trillion [17]. For 2019, losses were estimated at US$5.2 billion, or about Rp72.95 trillion, equivalent to 0.5% of Indonesia’s GDP [15]. As a historical comparison, 1997 fire losses are said to have exceeded US$9.3 billion [18].

Environment and Cross-Border Effects

Karhutla releases greenhouse gas emissions [6] and its smoke can cross national borders. In 2019, fire smoke even triggered diplomatic tension between Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur [13].

Section 05

Legal Basis

The ban on burning forest and land is regulated in several laws: Law No. 41 of 1999 on Forestry, Law No. 32 of 2009 on Environmental Protection and Management (UU PPLH), and Law No. 39 of 2014 on Plantations [19].

  • UU PPLH (Environmental Protection and Management Law): Article 69 paragraph (1) letter h prohibits anyone from opening land by burning [20]. This article’s provision has been amended through the Job Creation regulation [21], so the latest text must be referred to. The criminal threat is imprisonment of 3 to 10 years and a fine of Rp3 billion to Rp10 billion [22].
  • Plantations Law: Article 56 paragraph (1) prohibits plantation businesses from opening and/or cultivating land by burning [20]. Violations carry a maximum imprisonment of 10 years and a maximum fine of Rp10 billion [23].
  • Responsibility in work areas: the elucidation of the UU PPLH confirms that rights or permit holders are responsible for fires occurring in their work areas [24].
  • Technical regulation: Minister of Environment and Forestry Regulation P.32/2016 serves as the guideline for karhutla control from prevention through post-fire handling [1][2].

Section 06

How Is Karhutla Controlled?

Karhutla control covers organisation, management of human resources and facilities and infrastructure, as well as prevention operations, suppression, post-fire handling, evacuation and rescue support, and management support [2].

On the early-detection side, KLHK through the Directorate General of Climate Change Control developed SiPongi as a daily hotspot monitoring system [25]. In practice, monitoring uses a combination of SiPongi, the Fire Danger Rating System, Himawari (BMKG), and TMAT. In January–23 October 2025, the National Police handled 86 karhutla criminal cases with 83 individual suspects [26].

Section 07

Karhutla and Oil Palm Plantations

For the plantation sector, the burning ban is a directly applicable legal provision. Article 56 paragraph (1) of the Plantations Law prohibits plantation businesses from opening and/or cultivating land by burning [20], and legal scholarship interprets the prohibited subject in that article as plantation companies [27]. Together with the provision on permit holders’ responsibility in their work areas [24], this makes the principle of zero-burning land opening and management a legal obligation for businesses.

It is worth remembering that national data does not automatically show who or which sector is involved. In the January–September 2024 data, for example, the land cover with the largest burned area was scrubland (56.02%) [5]. Accurate reading of karhutla data therefore requires detail on cover type, land status, and field verification results, not just the total area.

Summary

Karhutla is forest and land fire that occurs almost every year in Indonesia, with an area that rises and falls with climate conditions and land management. Its impacts cover health, the economy, the environment, and international relations. Opening land by burning is prohibited by law, and its control rests on prevention, early detection, suppression, and law enforcement.

Footnotes and References

  1. Minister of Environment and Forestry Regulation No. P.32/MenLHK/Setjen/Kum.1/3/2016 on Forest and Land Fire Control. Open source
  2. Wahana Forestra: Jurnal Kehutanan Vol. 12 No. 1 (2017), The Role of Teamwork in Forest and Land Fire Suppression. Open source
  3. Jurnal Paradigma (Universitas Mulawarman), implementation of karhutla control policy. Open source
  4. Universitas Negeri Medan (digilib), Chapter II: review of prior research on the causes of forest fire. Open source
  5. JPNN, “KLHK Optimizes Karhutla Control Efforts” (data 1 January–30 September 2024). Open source
  6. Jurnal Belantara (Universitas Palangka Raya), peatland fire. Open source
  7. Jurnal PKn (Universitas PGRI Yogyakarta), karhutla in Riau Province. Open source
  8. Al-Qisth Law Review Vol. 5 No. 2 (2022), The Division of Authority in Karhutla Prevention. Open source
  9. Jawa Pos, “Prevent Karhutla, Government Urged to Prioritize Prevention and Legal Certainty” (SiPongi data 2015–2025). Open source
  10. ANTARA News, SiPongi data on karhutla area 2023–2025. Open source
  11. Jawa Pos, “Karhutla Pattern Shifts to Papua, CELIOS Calls for a Total Audit of Palm Oil and Mining Permits” (SiPongi data January–August 2026). Open source
  12. Jawa Pos, “BNPB Head Reports Karhutla Down to 639 Ha, Ministry of Forestry Claims National Data Still Being Calculated”. Open source
  13. Katadata, “World Bank: Forest Fire Losses in Indonesia Rp 72.9 Trillion” (11 December 2019). Open source
  14. Republika, “DPR Responds to World Bank Report on Karhutla Impacts” (12 December 2019). Open source
  15. Mongabay Indonesia, “World Bank: Indonesia’s 2019 Karhutla Losses Reach Rp72.95 Trillion” (16 December 2019). Open source
  16. Jurnal Online Mahasiswa Fakultas Hukum Universitas Riau, the impact of the 2015 Riau haze. Open source
  17. Katadata, “Rp 221 Trillion in Losses from Forest Fires” (17 December 2015). Open source
  18. Safrudin, a study of Food Estate in the Former PLG area (Civil Engineering, UGM), 2020. Open source
  19. Hukumonline, “A Look at the Articles That Implicate Forest and Land Burners”. Open source
  20. Universitas Malikussaleh (rama.unimal.ac.id), Chapter 1: excerpts of Article 69 of Law 32/2009 and Article 56 of Law 39/2014. Open source
  21. Hukumonline Klinik, “The Law on Burning Forest to Open Land”. Open source
  22. Pontianak Post, “West Kalimantan Highest, Bareskrim Names 245 Individual and 20 Corporate Karhutla Suspects”. Open source
  23. DPR RI Legislation Agency, regulatory study document on karhutla (Law 32/2009 and Law 39/2014). Open source
  24. Universitas Airlangga Repository, abstract of a study of Article 69 and Article 88 of Law 32/2009. Open source
  25. IPB Repository, SiPongi as the KLHK daily hotspot monitoring system. Open source
  26. Industry.co.id, “National Police Chief and Minister of Forestry Strengthen Synergy to Tackle Karhutla in Indonesia”. Open source
  27. Jurnal Gagasan Hukum Vol. 3 No. 1 (2021), “Philosophical Juridical Interpretation of Article 56 Paragraph 1 of Law No. 39 of 2014 on Plantations”. Open source
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