Peraturan Menteri Kehutanan 61/2013 is an Indonesian ministerial regulation on coordination forums for watershed management. Its full title is Peraturan Menteri Kehutanan Nomor P.61/Menhut-II/2013 tentang Forum Koordinasi Pengelolaan Daerah Aliran Sungai (Regulation of the Minister of Forestry on Watershed Management Coordination Forums). It was signed by the Minister of Forestry on 1 November 2013 and promulgated on 14 November 2013 in the State Gazette (Berita Negara) 2013 No. 1345, taking effect on promulgation.^[1] It was issued to implement Pasal 60 of Government Regulation 37/2012 on watershed management.^[2]

The regulation gives general direction for the formation of watershed coordination forums at national, provincial and district or city level. It defines a forum as a vehicle for coordination among the agencies that carry out watershed management, sets out the stages by which a forum is formed, fixes a membership drawn from four groups (government, academia, business and the community), and states the forum's tasks, functions and powers, its working procedures and secretariat, its reporting line and its sources of funding.^[3][4]

A forum is an independent body and a partner of the technical agencies for watershed management, but its powers are advisory and coordinative and may not overlap with or replace those of the technical agencies.^[5][6] The regulation belongs to the institutional side of the water resources law of Indonesia and of forestry and land use regulation in Indonesia. CRPG's regulatory tracker published two analyses of it in November 2025.^[7][8]

¶ Background

A watershed (daerah aliran sungai, DAS) is defined in the regulation as a land area forming a unit with a river and its tributaries that receives, stores and conveys rainwater naturally to a lake or the sea, bounded on land by topographic divides and at sea by the waters still affected by activity on land. Watershed management is defined as the human effort to regulate the reciprocal relationship between natural resources and people within the watershed so as to sustain the ecosystem and increase the sustainable benefit of natural resources to people.^[3:1]

The regulation's legal bases are Undang-Undang 41/1999 on forestry, as amended by Law 19/2004; Law 7/2004 on water resources; Law 26/2007 on spatial planning; Government Regulation 38/2007 on the division of government affairs; Government Regulation 37/2012 on watershed management; and the presidential and ministerial instruments then governing the organisation of the Ministry of Forestry.^[2:1] Law 7/2004 was later revoked by the Constitutional Court and replaced by Undang-Undang 17/2019.^[9]

¶ Formation and membership

Forums are formed on the basis of the awareness and needs of the stakeholders involved in watershed management. The regulation sets five stages: identification of the important issues in managing the watershed; identification of stakeholders, including key persons (tokoh kunci); outreach on watershed management to those stakeholders; deliberation among them on the use and conservation of natural resources through watershed management principles; and formation of the forum on the basis of their needs and agreement.^[10] Central, provincial and district or city governments initiate and facilitate the process and formally establish the forum within their powers, and may work with non-governmental organisations in doing so.^[11]

A forum has at least a chair, a vice-chair, a secretary and members, and the chair is chosen by agreement among the stakeholders. Its members represent four groups: government or regional government, academics, business and the community. A term of office lasts five years and may be extended by agreement of the members.^[12] Forums may be formed at national, provincial and district or city level.^[5:1]

¶ Tasks, functions and powers

Pasal 10 gives a forum seven tasks. It reviews watershed management policy, plans, activities and their effects as input for executive and legislative decision-makers; coordinates and consults to align the interests of sectors, regions and stakeholders in integrated watershed management; provides input on draft policies; integrates and harmonises interests; prepares annual or five-year work plans and reports them to decision-makers; advises the governor or regent or mayor on watershed policy; and coordinates the parties managing watersheds within and across administrative and watershed boundaries, assisting the governor or regent or mayor in preparing the watershed management plan (rencana pengelolaan DAS, RPDAS).^[13]

Its four functions are to receive and channel public aspirations on watershed management, to contribute ideas, to foster public oversight of watershed management, and to help resolve problems and conflicts that arise in it.^[14] Its powers are to convene regular and ad hoc meetings to resolve conflicts between institutional interests, social groups and regions; to advise on priorities for use of the watershed area; to advise on soil and water conservation structures and on structures protecting water flow against floods, erosion, sedimentation and drought; to advise the minister, governor or regent or mayor on potential problems and conflicts and on watershed policy; and to report on the implementation of watershed policy. These powers may not overlap with or replace those of the technical or implementing agencies.^[6:1]

¶ Working procedures, reporting and funding

A forum's relationship with other agencies is consultative, coordinative and communicative. It must hold plenary, limited or joint meetings at least twice a year, may convene coordination meetings on problems and conflicts to formulate solutions acceptable to the parties, and may invite outside organisations or persons to supply data. The results of coordination meetings go to the minister, governor or regent or mayor as material for further decisions.^[15] A forum may form a secretariat, which is located in the agency most closely concerned with watershed management in the area and assists the secretary with meeting materials, reports and administration.^[16]

Forums report their activities periodically, by semester or annually, to the minister, governor or regent or mayor according to their level, with a copy to the head of the ministry's technical implementing unit responsible for watershed management.^[17] Those units were reorganised in 2025 by Peraturan Menteri Kehutanan 5/2025, which gives the watershed management offices (Balai Pengelolaan Daerah Aliran Sungai) a section for strengthening watershed institutions.^[18] Forum activities may be funded from the state budget, regional budgets, grants and other non-binding sources, used in accordance with legislation.^[19]

¶ Commentary

CRPG's regulatory tracker published an Indonesian-language analysis of the regulation in November 2025, which read the four-group membership as a quadruple-helix model and discussed the forum's dependence on government secretariats and budgets, its non-binding outputs, and the need to align it with institutional changes since 2013, including the merger of the forestry and environment ministries in 2014.^[7:1] A second, English-language analysis published the same day described the regulation under the title recorded in CRPG's regulation database, Pembinaan Kelembagaan dalam Pengelolaan Daerah Aliran Sungai, and set out compliance deadlines and sanctions; the regulation's seventeen articles contain neither.^[8:1][1:1]

¶ See also

• PP 30/2024
• Mundur, madhep, munggah
• Public administration in Indonesia

¶ External links

• CRPG: What Institutional Requirements Apply to Watershed Management Under PERMENHUT P61/2013? (crpg.id, 26 November 2025) (free sign-in required on crpg.id)
• CRPG: Forum Koordinasi Pengelolaan DAS: Analisis PERMENHUT P.61/2013 tentang Kelembagaan Multi-Stakeholder (crpg.id, 26 November 2025) (free sign-in required on crpg.id)

¶ References