Legal Analysis of the Role of the North Sumatra Environmental and Forestry Service in Determining Forest Areas

The certainty of forest area status is an important prerequisite for the realization of good forest governance. However, with the existence of procedural errors in determining forest areas in the past which have not been corrected until now, it has become one of the major obstacles to realizing the certainty of the forest area. This study uses a descriptive method through a normative approach (legal research) to obtain secondary data and an empirical approach (juridical sociological), to obtain primary data through field research. The legal regulations in determining forest areas by the North Sumatra Environmental and Forestry Service are regulated in Law Number 41 of 1999 concerning Forestry. Determination of forest areas by the North Sumatra Environmental and Forestry Service is a concept of forest management zoning to achieve optimal, sustainable, and equitable forest management in accordance with its main function and designation. To achieve these goals, KPH is expected to become an information center regarding the potential and threats to forest areas, changes, and socio-cultural conditions of communities in and around the forest.