Growing Call for Moratorium on Conversion of Agricultural Lands in Denpasar

Bali Update Editorial Team

5 hours ago

Beritabali.com reports that Bali is experiencing a rapid, ongoing loss of agricultural land. Data from the National Land Office (Badan Pertanahan Nasional – BPN) show that between 2019 and 2024, a total of 6,521 hectares of rice fields were converted to commercial use, a decline of 1.53% per year.

The municipality of Denpasar recorded the highest level of agricultural land conversion. Over six years, 38,83% of Denpasar’s rice fields were lost at a rate of about 6.34% per year.

Meanwhile, Bali’s Regency of Gianyar, over the same six-year period, ranked #2 in terms of agricultural land loss at 18.85%—an annual average of 2.47%. The Bali Regency has the lowest rate of agricultural land loss in Tabanan, due to its relatively larger land area.

A BPN official explained that the conversion of agricultural lands to other commercial purposes is due to changes in the Island’s zoning regulations. In Denpasar, for example, a large number of rice fields have been turned into housing and other uses over the past ten years.

The loss of rice fields in Bali, in general, and in Denpasar in particular, has come under closer scrutiny following the unprecedented flooding that affected large areas of the Island on Wednesday, 10 September 2025, resulting in more than 10 deaths.

Local environmental activists are blaming the conversion of agricultural lands to other commercial purposes as one of the root causes of the devastating flooding.

The Bali Chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia – Walhi Bali) cites massive over-development as causing the loss of around 2,000 hectares of agricultural land annually in Bali.

WALHI has long been calling for a moratorium on new development in Bali. WALHI reports that between 2000 and 2020, rice paddies in Denpasar and Badung shrank from around 7,000 hectares to only 3,000 hectares. This represents a loss of approximately 4,334 hectares, or 23.44 percent, over 20 years.