by Nurul Fitri Ramadhani
JAKARTA, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia has reportedly entered a dry season, making several regions in the Southeast Asian country susceptible to wild forest and peatland fires.
Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) reported on Friday that more than 13 provinces are most vulnerable to forest fires, with over 1,000 hotspots. Six of these provinces on Sumatra Island, namely Riau, Jambi, Riau Islands, South Sumatra, Bengkulu, and Lampung, are in high-risk status. The agency has warned residents not to burn their trash or engage in any activities that could cause fires.
The BMKG stated on its website that the forest fires are predominantly caused by dry weather conditions, low rainfall, and strong winds. "These factors have increased the risk of forest and land fires in those aforementioned areas," said the agency.
The forest fires are also influenced by Rossby Equatorial waves and Kelvin waves, which are predicted to be active in these regions. Additionally, the local scale heating factor significantly influences the process of lifting air masses from the earth's surface to the atmosphere, according to the agency.
Local media in Indonesia have reported several forest fires over the past few days. In North Bintan subdistrict, Riau Islands, a land fire on an eight-hectare plot has been burning since Wednesday, disrupting local community activities. The regional disaster mitigation authorities, with help from local residents, are still trying to extinguish the fire.
On Thursday, the regional government of Kampar Regency in Riau Province declared an emergency alert status for forest and land fires, calling on all related authorities to prepare concrete steps to deal with the rising temperatures in the dry season.
However, Kampar Regent Hambali said besides the rising temperatures, human negligence in clearing land by burning could worsen the potential for forest and land fires.
"We are taking firm action against those who deliberately burn land. I have ordered all relevant regional agencies to urge the public not to clear land by burning," Hambali said, as quoted by local media.
In Jambi Province, a fire burned 6.5 hectares of land in two different districts on Friday. Most of the fires were found burning in bushland.
Indonesia is known as a country prone to forest and peatland fires, the biggest contributor to emissions, as the country faces prolonged and drier dry seasons every year triggered by the El Nino climate phenomenon.
From January to October 2023, the country's Ministry of Environment and Forestry reported that forest and land fires had burned 994,313 hectares of land, releasing 40.6 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
In 2019, fires raged through a total of 3.1 million hectares of rainforests and peatlands, an area larger than Belgium. Several neighboring countries, including Singapore and Malaysia, were also affected by the haze.
Indonesian Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya Bakar expressed her commitment to tackling forest and land fires more vigilantly. "We must improve control and strengthen surveillance. Do not let the fire spread across the border," Bakar said. ■