Environmental issues in exploiting Gumuk in Jember

The name " Kota Seribu Gumuk " for Jember Regency represents that Jemberhas several gumuk beneficial from the abiotic and social point of view. However, the number of gumuk is decreasing because their contents have commercial value (such as stone and sand), thus encouraging people to clear or exploit them. The reduction of humps in Jember has a significant impact on the stability of nature and society. The gumuk has a biological function as a windbreak, preventing the area from the threat of a hurricane. Gumuk becomes a water absorption area that can support the surrounding community. In addition, gumuk can also affect the climate, whose presence greatly determines the quality of the vegetation and local agricultural products of Jember. These functions will disappear as the exploitation of gumuk is increasingly rampant in Jember. In this case, the government has a responsibility to conserve nature. This means that the government must respond to the void of the mechanism for protecting the gumuk in Jember, which will be detrimental to both nature and the surrounding community, so it is necessary to formulate a mechanism for protecting the gumuk from exploitation. This paper will analyze the legal ontology and epistemology to protect against gumuk by using a statutory and conceptual approach. The idea of establishing the gumuk as a nature reserve, as stated in the Regional Regulation Number 1 of 2015 About the Jember Regency Spatial Planning, is part of the mechanism for protecting the gumuk. However, the idea is "expensive" because the state, in this case, the Government of Jember, must acquire and pay compensation for all gumuk owned by individuals, and it will take a long time. Gumuk should be given a clear legal standing so that the number of gumuk in Jember does not run out.The legal standing contains at least a ban on gumuk exploitation and its legal consequences.The availability of legal standing for this gumuk is a safeguard that the Government must immediately prepare against gumuk to maintain the current number of gumuk in Jember.