Nearly 60% drop in fire hotspots this year compared to 2023: Indonesian official

JAKARTA: Indonesia has seen a marked decrease in the number of forest and land fires this year compared to 2023, according to an official from the country’s environment and forestry ministry (KLHK). 
On Sunday (Oct 13), Mr Thomas Nifinluri – the director of the ministry’s land and forest fire control agency – told local media that there was a 59.4 per cent decrease in the number of fire hotspots in the country based on satellite observations. 
“The total number of hotspots in the period from Jan 1 to Oct 10, 2024, is 3,163, whereas in the same period in 2023 it was 7,786,” Mr Nifinluri said in a written statement. 
He added that the ministry remains committed to ongoing fire control efforts to ensure stability ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Prabowo Subianto on Oct 20, local media platform Tempo reported. 
According to a report by BBC Indonesia last month, local environmental activists have considered outgoing President Joko Widodo’s administration to have “failed” in managing forest and land fires in the country. This, they said, affected over 7.6 million hectares during his nine years in office despite enforcement efforts.
Last year, Mr Widodo had warned that the police should prevent large fires from spreading during the dry season, or they will be dismissed from the force. And in 2016, the Jakarta Globe reported that the president had similarly threatened the job security of police and military officials if they did not successfully prevent forest and land fires from reoccurring that year.
Typically, Indonesia’s dry season stretches from April to October. 
KLHK on Sunday said that the largest burned area is located at East Nusa Tenggara at 93,572.19 hectares, followed by West Nusa Tenggara at 34,430.48 hectares, and East Java at 18,822.62 hectares – all on mineral land. 
Meanwhile, carbon emissions due to forest and land fires from Jan 1 until Sep 30 this year amounted to 41.2 million tons of carbon dioxide, which comprises 11.5 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalents from peat fires (below ground) and 29.6 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalents from mineral and peat fires above ground, according to local media. 
In these vulnerable provinces, preventive measures to control forest and land fires have been optimised, he added. 
According to Mr Nifinluri, his ministry has continued to involve the community in land and forest fire control. For instance, KLHK has gathered a total of 7,428 fire-aware community personnel from across 29 provinces, according to Tempo.
Additionally, weather modification operations which incorporated the seeding of sodium chloride to cause immediate condensation and rain have also been carried out in the provinces of Riau, Jambi, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, South Sumatra and South Kalimantan. 
Mr Nifinluri also stated that aerial operations, including air patrols and water bombing, have been underway since Mar 2 this year. This effort involves eight helicopters from the National Agency for Disaster Countermeasure (BNPB) and KLHK, operating in North Sumatra, Riau, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, and Central Kalimantan provinces, as reported by Tempo.
Furthermore, based on the analysis of the third 10-day rainfall season in September this year, 19 per cent of the number of seasonal zones in Indonesia have entered the rainy season to assist in controlling forest fires. 
These areas include parts of Aceh in North Sumatra, parts of Riau, parts of West Sumatra, parts of Jambi, parts of South Sumatra, parts of Bengkulu as well as the northern part of Central Java, West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan and other parts of Indonesia, according to Tempo.