Indonesia threatens jail time for unapproved downloads of forest information

Indonesia’s federal government is enforcing brand-new limitations on access to geospatial information, raising issues amongst scientists and activists that it will reduce ecological science and advocacy operate in among the world’s most biodiverse nations.

For around a month, visitors to an interactive mapping platform kept by the Ministry of Forestry have actually been welcomed with a pop-up legal notification caution that the details is “view-only” which anybody who “downloads” or “extracts” it without the ministry’s composed approval “will be prosecuted” under the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions, or ITE, Law.

Anybody who wishes to utilize the as soon as easily available platform, called SIGAP, need to initially consent to “terms” specifying that the appropriate posts in the ITE Law “bring charges of as much as 9 years in jail and/or a fine of approximately Rp 3 billion [$170,000],” the notification states.

On Sept. 21, the ministry’s Directorate General of Forestry Planning published a video to Instagram laying out a brand-new application procedure that needs potential users to divulge their research study objectives and send supporting files.

Doni Prabowo, the department’s head of forest tracking and geospatial info, informed Mongabay that constraints were required due to the fact that geospatial information had actually been unrestrained for a very long time, developing chances for control and prohibited trading of the nation’s valuable info.

“What if someone controls the information and states specific locations are not safeguarded forest [when they really are]It might be unsafe,” Doni stated by phone. He stated he ‘d become aware of the ministry’s geospatial information being noted for sale on an internet marketing platform, suggesting the possibility of prohibited usage.

Ecological scientists state they fret the brand-new constraints might hinder their capability to track things like whether a mining business is unlawfully clearing forest outside its concession, or if a zoning choice impacts Indigenous lands. Scientists utilize the SIGAP platform to gain access to federal government information on logging, fire hotspots, groundwater levels, and more, overlaid with the ministry’s zoning classifications, such as safeguarded forest location and production forest location.

Lukmanul Hakim, a geographical details system (GIS) expert at HAkA, a preservation NGO in Indonesia’s Aceh province, stated he utilizes the platform keep an eye on the Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve, a sanctuary for the seriously threatened Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abeliithat has actually lost countless hectares of environment to prohibited forest clearance.

“It’s narrowing the area for us to get public information,” he informed Mongabay. “We have not heard any type of public outreach about this.”

Another scientist who tracks logging in Indonesia stated it was paradoxical for the ministry to attempt to stop users from downloading and examining information it was currently releasing online.

” If there is a WebGIS [interactive map]then you can do a screenshot and turn it into a specific file type for digitizing, “stated the scientist, who asked for privacy, pointing out the possibility of reaction from Indonesian authorities.” Technically we can still mine the information from the backend, however we are fretted about the effects in the future. “

Andreas Harsono, a Jakarta-based scientist for Human Rights Watch, informed Mongabay the constraints might minimize the capability of civil society to keep track of Indonesia’s diminishing jungles.

“It’s a common Indonesian method,” he composed in a message. “It does not state that you can not download the information, however you require to get an authorization to download a federal government information. These licenses are generally long to get, taking a lot time, if authorized at all. It reveals that the Ministry of Forestry does not have the goodwill to offer maps. It’s going to make complex land management in Indonesia along with boost corruption chances.”

Doni rejected the ministry was reducing ecological science. “We are open to varied analysis done by any organizations. Everybody has their own information source and approach and we are okay with that,” he stated.

The ministry, he stated, was just limiting access to raw geospatial information in shapefile format (. SHP). SIGAP users, he stated, can still download PDF files through a button on the platform without previous approval.

Shapefiles, he stated, would be offered to scientists from universities and other federal government organizations by means of the application procedure, however not to NGOs. “If they [NGOs] wish to do [their own] analysis of the raw information, they require to digitize it themselves or send us a demand letter, and we’ll do the analysis for them,” he stated.

Due to its digital signatures include, the shapefile format makes it possible for the overlaying of several maps with higher precision and authenticity than other formats. Submit formats like JPEG and PDF can be by hand digitized, however the procedure is lengthy and susceptible to error.

2 legal specialists informed Mongabay the ministry was overreaching.

Herlambang Wiratraman, a constitutional law teacher at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, stated the general public has a right to gain access to geospatial information under the 2008 Public Information Disclosure Act.

He pointed out the constitutional change passed in 2000, after the fall of strongman President Suharto, which specifies, “Every individual deserves to interact and to get info for the advancement of their individual and social environment, and the right to look for, acquire, have, shop, procedure, and communicate info utilizing all offered channels.”

“Access to public info is a human right,” Herlambang stated. “Open gain access to maps will develop more public involvement that will include more suggesting to Indonesia’s democracy.”

Laode Syarif, a senior speaker at Hasanuddin University Law School in Makassar, stated the ITE Law does not criminalize the downloading of geospatial information as long as the user does not control it with the intent to trick.

“If they utilize the information and present it the method it is, then there’s no issue with it. It’s a various case if they lie,” he informed Mongabay.

Syarif, who acted as deputy head of Indonesia’s anticorruption company, the KPK, from 2015-2019, stated geospatial information was a vital tool for battling ecological criminal offense and should be openly available.

The forestry ministry under previous President Joko Widodo, who left workplace in 2024, was no complete stranger to data-related debates: to name a few, it blacklisted foreign scientists who challenged its claim that seriously threatened orangutans were recuperating; pressured a French landscape ecologistlater on deported, to disavow an analysis he had actually released of Indonesia’s wildfires; and combated an NGO’s ask for shapefile maps of business land concessions all the method to the Supreme Court, which ruled versus the ministry.

Some conservationists have actually kept in mind better openness under the existing minister, Raja Juli Antoni, who took workplace in 2024, in the kind of more regular discussions with preservation groups and the publication of a long-awaited elephant preservation strategy. The relocation to limit geospatial information was “reminiscent of what the previous ministry was doing,” one scientist informed Mongabay.

Syarif stated a number of the successes of ecological advocacy have actually counted on geospatial research study, which gatekeeping the allegedly public information might weaken Indonesia’s democracy.

“It’s a really effective tool. Our nation requires it,” he stated. “And by nation, I imply the nation itself. Not just the federal government, however most significantly the general public itself. Without them, a nation does not exist.”

Banner image: A Sumatran orangutan in Bukit Lawang, North Sumatra. Image by Peter Steward through Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0.

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