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Roundup: Indonesia gears up for threat of forest fires

Xinhua, March 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

which declared a state of emergency last September due to month-long of fires and choking haze -- showed that the water table position on some peatlands in the region have lowered to between five and seven meters deep.

Fires on dried peat, which is rich in carbon, are much more difficult to extinguish. Last year, the World Bank estimated the inferno that razed 2.6 million hectares of land and forest in Indonesia from June to October cost the Southeast Asia's biggest economy 221 trillion rupiah (around 16.97 billion dollars), a huge blow to the nation's already sluggish economy.

Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said that she believed the government's prevention and management efforts of forest fires are much better this year than last year.

"I'm not worried (that uncontrolled forest fires would reoccur this year). The most important principal is that when there's a fire, it must be immediately extinguished," she told reporters.

Riau Governor Arsyadjuliandi Rachman echoed the environment minister's sentiment, noting that his administration has increased the number of officers to promptly douse fires in his province.

Indonesia has taken a stronger law enforcement, including revoking operational permits and jail time for offenders of slash-and-burn activity which has been practiced for decades due to its low cost to clear land and forest, and also a clear command-system structure for stronger monitoring and swiftly tackling forest fires.

The government has also established regional task forces in nine provinces to push for prevention and handling forest fire issues within regions, and created in January the country's first-ever agency dedicated for peatland restoration, called Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG).

BRG Head Nazir Foead, however, called on local governments in Riau and other provinces in the northern part of Sumatra to boost its prevention efforts of fires because a longer dry season is estimated to take place there later this year.

"This region has two periods of drought every year. Currently, they're experiencing the short version. Can you imagine what would it be like when the longer period of dry season arrives, if hotspots have already been detected during the short period of drought?" he asked. Endit