<![CDATA[Indonesia has built a relatively mature governance system for peat fire, but it is unclear whether the same system covers bog burst, a newly recognised hazard of coastal peat. This policy and institutional analysis compares governance coverage of the two hazards on Bengkalis Island, Riau, and derives a governance strategy for prevention from the gaps found. We reviewed eight policy instruments (a presidential instruction, ministerial and provincial regulations, and government regulations on fire, peat protection and the coast, plus the ministerial regulation on groundwater measurement) and mapped them onto six governance functions. The document review was complemented by a narrative review of literature on peat governance and by two indicators from a questionnaire of 34 respondents in two villages (November 2023). None of the instruments contains a provision on bog burst. Fire has a mandate for community fire groups, canal-blocking infrastructure, early-warning facilities and a groundwater criterion, but every water-table provision is written for water that is too deep. All 34 respondents reported oversight of fire, no participant reported oversight of bog burst, and all reported no customary rule or local wisdom for prevention. The gap is therefore one of mandate and threshold rather than of institutions: the actors and tools exist but are designed for a single direction of water-table risk. The gaps are translated into a governance strategy of four sequenced elements: a hazard definition that covers both extremes, an upper groundwater threshold added to existing monitoring procedures, sustained funding for community fire groups, and local agreements through customary institutions. The strategy is a proposal that has not yet been validated by stakeholders, and the findings rest on document review and perception data from two villages, so they should be tested in other coastal peatlands]]>
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