As mandated under Law No. 41 of 1999 on Forestry (“Forestry Law”),[1] the government holds exclusive ownership rights over Indonesia’s forest areas and every natural resource contained therein is to be utilized for the welfare and prosperity of the Indonesian people. However, the government also has the authority to lend out areas of government-owned forest in order to support national development.[2] This includes the lending out of forest areas for utilization for non-forestry activities, which is generally regulated under Government Regulation No. 24 of 2010  on the Utilization of Forest Areas (“24/2010 Government Regulation”), as amended by Government Regulation No. 105 of 2015 on the Second Amendment to the 24/2010 Government Regulation (“105/2015 Government Regulation”).[3]
 
One of the core provisions stated under the 24/2010 Government Regulation is the requirement for any party to first secure a Borrow-to-Use Forest Area Permit (“Borrow-to-Use Permit”) from the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Forestry (“Minister”)[4] before utilizing any government-owned forest areas for commercial and/or non-commercial non-forestry activities.[5] This provision was then elaborated upon further under Ministerial Regulation No. P.16/Menhut-II/2014 on Guidelines for Borrow-to-Use Forest Areas (“2014 Guidelines”)[6] Recently, the Minister updated these guidelines through the issuance of Ministerial Regulation No. P.50/Menlhk/Setjen/Kum.1/6/2016 (“2016 Guidelines”), which also repeals and replaces the 2014 Guidelines.[7] This update aims to incorporate the various changes made under the 105/2015 Government Regulation, which mainly revises the provisions relating to:[8]