Kepastian Hukum Pengakuan Hutan Adat melalui Koordinasi Kewenangan Daerah dan Kehutanan

Legal Certainty in Customary Forest Recognition through Coordination of Regional and Forestry Authorities

Abstract

Constitutional  Court Decision No. 35/PUU-X/2012 removed customary forests from the category of state forests, but implementation still requires recognition of customary law communities and determination of forest status. This article examines the relationship between these processes and develops an administrative coordination model to support legal certainty. It uses doctrinal legal research, combining statutory, case, and conceptual approaches to materials within an analytical cut-off of 31 December 2024. The analysis centres on the Forestry Law, the Constitutional Court decision, Ministry of Home Affairs Regulation No. 52 of 2014, and Ministry of Environment and Forestry Regulation No. 9 of 2021. It finds that community recognition and forest status determination concern different objects and requirements. The appropriate recognition instrument depends on the relevant forest-area setting; a regional head's decision is not sufficient in every case. Nevertheless, incomplete recognition documents do not invariably prevent field verification and indicative designation where the prescribed conditions are met. The proposed model combines early identification of the applicable legal pathway, shared documentation, community participation in boundary verification, and written reasons for corrective requests. Coordination should preserve institutional competence, competing rights, and forest functions while making the procedure intelligible to communities. The model remains a normative proposal requiring empirical evaluation.