Analysis: PERMEN 2 2026

The issuance of Minister of Forestry Regulation No. 2 of 2026 on the Administration of Forestry Thematic Geospatial Information (Penyelenggaraan Informasi Geospasial Tematik Kehutanan) establishes a structured framework for how spatial data concerning forest areas is produced, managed, and shared within the Ministry of Forestry. The regulation marks a significant step in aligning sectoral geospatial governance with the broader National Geospatial Information Network (Jaringan Informasi Geospasial Nasional, or JIG Nasional), and carries direct consequences for how forestry data flows between central government units, regional technical offices, and external users.

The central issue this regulation addresses is the fragmentation of forestry-related spatial data. For years, different units within the Ministry and its technical implementing bodies produced geospatial datasets using inconsistent standards, coordinate systems, and metadata protocols. The result was duplication, poor interoperability, and difficulty in using spatial information for cross-sectoral decision-making — particularly in land-use planning, forest boundary demarcation, and environmental monitoring. PERMEN 2/2026 responds by codifying a uniform system of production, quality control, storage, and dissemination that ties forestry thematic geospatial information (Informasi Geospasial Tematik, or IGT) to the foundational national base geospatial information (Informasi Geospasial Dasar, or IGD).

The regulation anchors its approach on a layered geospatial architecture. Article 15 establishes the foundational principle: all thematic forestry geospatial activities must reference IGD — the authoritative national basemap maintained by the non-ministerial government agency responsible for geospatial affairs. Where IGD is not yet available for a given area, Article 15(2) permits two fallback pathways. The first allows data producers and geospatial data custodians (walidata Geospasial) to use the most suitable existing IGD previously produced for internal purposes. The second authorizes cooperation with the national geospatial agency to create new IGD, provided the resulting data follows the agency's technical standards and specifications and is produced solely for the requesting party's own use. This dual fallback is pragmatic: it prevents work from stalling in data-poor regions while still anchoring all outputs to a common reference frame.

Governance and planning mechanisms receive detailed treatment in Articles 16 and 17. Article 16 requires data producers and geospatial data custodians to draft an action plan for IGT administration — and critically, that plan must align with the national master plan for geospatial information prepared by the national geospatial agency. The action plan is drafted through the Ministry's internal geospatial data forum, ensuring cross-directorate coordination rather than siloed planning. Article 17 then elevates the plan: the Minister formally endorses it for a five-year term, and its implementation is subject to annual monitoring and evaluation through the same forum. This creates a continuous feedback loop — plan, execute, review, adjust — embedded in a five-year strategic horizon. The formal five-year cycle with yearly checkpoints mirrors good practice in spatial data infrastructure management seen in jurisdictions that treat geospatial information as a strategic national asset.

Human resource provisions in Article 14 reinforce that data quality depends on personnel. The regulation requires that the human resources engaged in IGT administration possess competencies spanning forestry, earth sciences, information technology, and security systems — or other fields as needed. It further mandates that every entity administering forestry IGT carry out capacity-building through training and technical guidance. This is not a one-off certification requirement but an ongoing obligation, signaling that the Ministry views geospatial competence as a dynamic field requiring continuous investment.

The implications unfold on several levels. For the Ministry's internal operations, the regulation compels harmonization: units that previously managed their own spatial datasets independently must now align with common standards and feed into the Ministry-wide geospatial network (JIG Kementerian), which in turn connects to the national JIG Nasional. For external users — including other government agencies, legal entities, and individual citizens classified as Pengguna IGT under Article 1(8) — the regulation promises more consistent and reliable forestry spatial data, though the actual accessibility mechanisms and service-level commitments remain to be detailed in derivative technical guidelines. For the national geospatial ecosystem, the regulation closes a gap: it brings a major natural-resource sector under the umbrella of the national geospatial framework, increasing the completeness and coherence of Indonesia's spatial data infrastructure.

Our Take

PERMEN 2/2026 is a structurally sound regulation that gets the architecture right — anchor to national base data, plan in five-year cycles, review annually, and invest in people. The real test lies in implementation: the five-year action plan is only as good as the resources allocated to it, and the annual evaluation mechanism will need genuine analytical rigor rather than becoming a reporting formality. The deliberate linkage to the national geospatial agency's master plan is a notable strength, as it prevents the Ministry from building a parallel geospatial universe that would recreate the fragmentation the regulation is meant to solve.

The Ministry of Forestry's willingness to subject its spatial data governance to a formal planning, monitoring, and evaluation cycle represents a meaningful institutional commitment — one whose success will ultimately be measured not by the plans produced, but by whether a field officer in a remote forest management unit can access and contribute to the same authoritative spatial dataset as a policy analyst in Jakarta.

Methodology: This memo summarises the official regulation text and is not legal advice; report corrections to contact@crpg.info.

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