Feeling the heat: Firefighters trying to extinguish a forest fire in Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra in this 2024 file photo. — AFP
With some regions already seeing their land engulfed by wildfires, the government is intensifying efforts to mitigate the risk of forest and land fires as the country is expected to shift to the dry season in the coming weeks.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) recently forecasted that most regions across the country will enter the dry season between April and June, with its peak expected to fall in August, exacerbating the risk of wildfire.
As the nation transitions to the dry season, the Forestry Ministry has recorded 163 wildfire incidents in several provinces that burned more than 3,200ha of land and forest, totalling an area the size as Macau, within the first five months of the year according to data from the ministry’s official wildfire monitoring platform SiPongi.
Authorities have been using satellite imagery to monitor hotspots, or areas recorded as having higher temperatures compared to their surroundings.
While hotspots are not necessarily wildfires, they may be indications of a potential fire, thus detecting them may help authorities in preventing forest and land fires.
As of May 14, the ministry recorded at least 195 hotspots detected nationwide since the beginning of the year, according to Thomas Nifinluri, the forest and land fire control director at the Forestry Ministry.
“(The ministry) is checking the hotspots on the ground for verification,” Thomas said.
With the dry season approaching, he added that the ministry has been pushing several prevention measures, including joint patrols with military and police officers and regular fire monitoring.
The number of detected hotspots so far is lower than compared with last year. But the lower number should not be a reason to be complacent, said Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq.
“Despite the decline, we must not be off guard. We have to be proactive, strengthening our early warning system and responding quicker to any signs of danger,” Hanif said last week, as quoted in a statement issued by the Environment Ministry.
Other measures launched by the government to mitigate and prevent forest and land fires included launching a wildfire management desk in March.
The desk would become a forum where various ministries and state institutions coordinate in anticipating forest fires during the upcoming dry season.
The wildfire desk has put its attention on seven provinces deemed prone to wildfires, namely Riau, South Sumatra, Jambi, South Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan.
Recorded as having the largest areas of burned lands during the fire season each year, these provinces are also home to large areas of peatland.
The ecosystem is often dried to be converted into various plantations, including oil palm.
Hanif, whose ministry is part of the wildfire desk, urged companies under the Indonesian Oil Palm Association (Gapki) to push for more forest and land fire prevention measures to help the government achieve its zero wildfire target by this year.
President Prabowo Subianto reportedly set the target of zero forest and land fires this year when pushing for the establishment of the wildfire desk, which is placed under the Office of the Coordinating Politics and Security Minister.
The government set the target after acknowledging the geopolitical cost of forest and land fires.
The weather agency has been working with the National Disaster Mitigation Agency to launch a week-long cloud seeding operation since early May to prevent fires in Riau from prolonging.
But hotspots and fires were still detected, forcing the regional administration to declare a state of emergency for fire hazards.
Other provinces, such as Aceh and East Nusa Tenggara, are also working to prevent forest and land fires, after both provinces suffered from wildfires last year.
In 2024, Indonesia saw 376,000ha burned by wildfires, an area the size of almost six Jakartas.
The figure, however, was a 67% decrease compared with the previous year. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
