| Full title | Peraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan Nomor 9 Tahun 2021 tentang Pengelolaan Perhutanan Sosial |
|---|---|
| Citation | Permen LHK 9/2021; Berita Negara 2021 No. 320 |
| Jurisdiction | Indonesia |
| Enacted by | Minister of Environment and Forestry |
| Signed | 1 April 2021 |
| Promulgated | 1 April 2021 |
| Effective | 1 April 2021 |
| Replaces | Permen LHK 83/2016 and four other ministerial regulations |
Peraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan 9/2021 (Peraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan Nomor 9 Tahun 2021 tentang Pengelolaan Perhutanan Sosial) is an Indonesian ministerial regulation on the management of social forestry (perhutanan sosial), the system under which local communities and customary law communities manage state forest, or have customary and private forest recognised, as the principal actors. It was signed by the Minister of Environment and Forestry on 1 April 2021 and took effect on its promulgation the same day.[1][2] It is one of the instruments of forestry and land use regulation in Indonesia, and followed PP 23/2021 on forestry administration, whose Pasal 247 leaves further provisions on the management of social forestry to a ministerial regulation.[3]
The regulation recognises five schemes: village forest, community forest, community plantation forest, customary forest and forestry partnership. It sets the forest functions on which each may be granted, a 35-year term for the first three, application and verification procedures with fixed deadlines, and the rights, obligations and prohibitions of holders.[4][5][6] It also governs the development of community forest enterprises, social forestry on peatland, a transition period (Jangka Benah) for smallholder plantations inside the forest estate, supervision, acceleration and administrative sanctions.[7]
It consolidated the field by revoking five earlier ministerial regulations, among them Permen LHK 83/2016 on social forestry, while keeping in force the rights and permits already issued under them.[8][9] CRPG's regulatory tracker published an analysis of the regulation in November 2025.[10]
The forest categories on which social forestry rests predate the regulation. The elucidation of UU 41/1999 on forestry describes state forest managed by a village for the village's welfare as village forest (hutan desa), and state forest used chiefly to empower the community as community forest (hutan kemasyarakatan).[11] Before 2021 the procedures for these and the other schemes were spread across several ministerial regulations: Permen LHK 83/2016 on social forestry, separate regulations of 2019 and 2020 on social forestry in peat ecosystems, on community plantation forest and on customary and private forest, and a 2012 regulation on work plans for community plantation forest.[8:1] Permen LHK 9/2021 revoked all five and brought the field under one instrument of twelve chapters and 200 articles.[8:2][1:1]
Pasal 1 defines social forestry as a system of sustainable forest management carried out in state forest or in private or customary forest by local communities (Masyarakat Setempat) or customary law communities (Masyarakat Hukum Adat, MHA) as the principal actors, to improve their welfare, environmental balance and socio-cultural dynamics.[12] Its five forms, under Pasal 3, are the village forest (Hutan Desa, HD), the community forest (Hutan Kemasyarakatan, HKm), the community plantation forest (Hutan Tanaman Rakyat, HTR), the customary forest (Hutan Adat) and the forestry partnership (kemitraan kehutanan).[4:1]
The schemes are tied to forest function. In protection forest the minister may grant HD, HKm or a partnership; in production forest HD, HKm, HTR or a partnership; in conservation forest only a partnership, in the form of a conservation partnership governed by the law on conservation of living natural resources.[4:2] The areas directed to the first three schemes are mapped in the indicative social forestry area map (Peta Indikatif Areal Perhutanan Sosial, PIAPS), which the minister sets by harmonising the ministry's maps with those of regional governments, non-governmental organisations and other sources, and which is revised every six months.[13]
Legal access is given by the minister as an approval (persetujuan) for HD, HKm, HTR and partnerships, and as a determination (penetapan) of customary forest status. An approval may be granted to an individual, a forest farmer group or a cooperative, and Pasal 7 ayat (2) states that it confers no ownership of the forest area.[4:3] Approvals for HD, HKm and HTR run for 35 years and may be extended; a partnership with a holder of a forest utilisation licence or a forest area use approval runs for the remaining term of that licence or approval.[4:4] An extension must be sought at least one year before expiry, is granted for a further 35 years if an evaluation finds the holder has complied with its obligations and prohibitions, and is refused if it has not.[14]
An HD approval goes to a village institution (Lembaga Desa) formed by the village head through village deliberation. Its beneficiaries must be local villagers, one person representing each family, with equal opportunity for men and women.[15] For each scheme the regulation fixes an administrative verification of the application within three working days of receipt, followed by technical verification of the applicant and the area.[5:1] A provincial working group for the acceleration of social forestry (Pokja PPS), set up by the governor and including regional agencies, forest management units, civil society and business, helps socialise the programme, facilitate applications, assist technical verification and help resolve social and tenurial conflicts.[16] The minister may delegate HD and HKm approvals to a governor whose province has written social forestry into its medium-term development plan, has a regional regulation on it, and allocates at least 35 per cent of its forestry budget to it.[17]
Customary forest may lie inside or outside the state forest estate and is managed by the customary law community. Where the community lives in state forest, its existence must be confirmed by a regional regulation (peraturan daerah); outside it, by a regional regulation or a decision of the governor or regent. Customary territory designated in a customary forest decision is released from state forest.[18]
Holders of HD, HKm and HTR approvals must manage the forest sustainably, mark their boundaries, prepare management and work plans and report on them, plant and maintain the forest, administer forest products, pay non-tax state revenue and protect the forest. They may not transfer, mortgage or lease the approval area, plant oil palm, or use the approval for another purpose, and in protection forest they may not fell trees, use mechanical equipment or build infrastructure that alters the landscape.[6:1] Holders of customary forest are under parallel duties and prohibitions, including a ban on oil palm and on changing the status and function of the forest.[6:2]
Chapter III organises management through area arrangement and planning, business development, handling of tenurial conflict, facilitation (pendampingan) and environmental partnership.[19] The plans are the social forestry management plan (Rencana Kelola Perhutanan Sosial, RKPS) and its annual work plan.[12:1] Business development runs through the social forestry business group (Kelompok Usaha Perhutanan Sosial, KUPS), formed by the holder group and designated by the head of the forest management unit, or by the head of the ministry's technical unit if the former has not acted within fourteen working days. KUPS are graded blue, silver, gold and platinum according to their capacity to carry out the management plan, from an identified business potential at the lowest grade to national or international markets at the highest.[19:1]
Chapter IV allows HD, HKm, partnership and customary forest on peat ecosystems, subject to a duty to keep the peat's hydrological function. Peat of protective function may be used only for research, science, education and limited environmental services such as tourism and carbon trading. Holders on peat may not clear new land until zoning is set, dig drainage that dries the peat, or burn it, and holders of HD, HKm and partnerships there may not use timber.[20]
Chapter V provides for owners of smallholder plantations that lay inside conservation, protection or production forest before the Job Creation Law, UU 11/2020, to obtain a social forestry approval subject to Jangka Benah, the period needed to reach the intended forest structure and ecosystem function. The holder must plant at least 100 forest trees per hectare among the oil palms within a year of the approval and may not replant oil palm; the cycle is 25 years in production forest and 15 years in protection or conservation forest, after which the palms are removed and replaced by trees.[21]
The minister guides implementation through the director general and the heads of technical units, and supervision extends to every class of holder, including customary forest.[22] Chapter VII provides for integrated planning to accelerate social forestry, a national working group formed by the coordinating minister, and integrated area development based on social forestry.[23] Chapter VIII sets administrative sanctions for breach of the obligations and prohibitions: a written warning, an administrative fine for failure to administer forest products, suspension of the approval if a warning is not heeded, and revocation if the breach continues for a year after suspension.[24] Funding comes from the state and regional budgets and other lawful sources, and the minister is to build an integrated electronic information system on social forestry. Social forestry in the special-management forest areas of Central, East and West Java and Banten, whose management was not handed to the state forestry company, is left to a separate regulation.[25]
Pasal 198 keeps in force, until they expire, the village forest management rights, community forest and community plantation forest licences and recognised partnerships issued before the regulation, subject to adjustment to it, together with existing customary forest determinations; pending applications continue under the new procedures.[9:1] Pasal 199 revokes Permenhut P.3/2012 on work plans for community plantation forest, Permen LHK P.83/2016 on social forestry, P.37/2019 on social forestry in peat ecosystems, P.11/2020 on community plantation forest and P.17/2020 on customary and private forest.[8:3] When consulted in September 2026, JDIH BPK recorded the regulation as in force and listed no amending instrument.[2:1]
K194 · Work URI /akn/id/act/permen-lhk/2021/9 · RegVault PERMEN_LHK_9_2021[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 200 and closing formula (Ditetapkan di Jakarta pada tanggal 1 April 2021; Diundangkan di Jakarta pada tanggal 1 April 2021). The held text, from pasal.id, carries no preamble. regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎ ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK No. 9 Tahun 2021, JDIH BPK: enacted and promulgated 1 April 2021, in force 1 April 2021, Berita Negara 2021 No. 320; status recorded as in force. https://peraturan.bpk.go.id/Details/235324/permen-lhk-no-9-tahun-2021 ↩︎ ↩︎
[P] Peraturan Pemerintah Nomor 23 Tahun 2021 tentang Penyelenggaraan Kehutanan, Pasal 247. regulation_id PP_23_2021. ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 3, Pasal 4, Pasal 6, Pasal 7 and Pasal 8. regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 14 ayat (4) (HD), Pasal 25 ayat (4) (HKm), Pasal 37 ayat (4) (HTR) and Pasal 54 ayat (2) (partnerships). regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎ ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 93 and Pasal 94. regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 2. regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 199 huruf a to e. regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 198. regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎ ↩︎
[E] "How Is Social Forestry Managed Under PERMENLHK 9/2021?", CRPG regulatory tracker, crpg.id, 26 November 2025. https://crpg.id/how-is-social-forestry-managed-under-permenlhk-9-2021/ (free sign-in required on crpg.id) The post carries a notice that it is AI-generated; it is cited for the record of the development, not for its legal content. ↩︎
[P] Undang-Undang Nomor 41 Tahun 1999 tentang Kehutanan, elucidation (Penjelasan) of Pasal 5 ayat (1). regulation_id UU_41_1999. ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 1 angka 1 to 4, 22, 26 and 41 to 44. regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎ ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 3 ayat (5) and Pasal 5. regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 99. regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 1 angka 21 and Pasal 10 ayat (1) to (5). regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 9. regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 86. regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 62, Pasal 63 and Pasal 75. regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 100, Pasal 113 to Pasal 116. regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎ ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 172 to Pasal 176. regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 1 angka 35, Pasal 177 and Pasal 178. regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 179 and Pasal 184. regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 192 and Pasal 193. regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 194. regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎
[P] Permen LHK 9/2021, Pasal 1 angka 29, Pasal 195, Pasal 196 and Pasal 197. regulation_id PERMEN_LHK_9_2021. ↩︎