BNPB Asks KLHK To Take Firm Action Against Forest Burning Perpetrators

JAKARTA - The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) asked the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) to be more daring to take firm action and sanction the perpetrators of forest fires that harm the community.

"There is a legal sanction at the Ministry of Forestry, there is one echelon I who takes care of its law enforcement. We hope that this can still run strongly and really help conditions in the field," said Plt. Head of the BNPB Disaster Information and Communication Data Center Abdul Muhari in Disaster Briefing: Forest and Land Fire Alert reported by ANTARA, Monday, June 19.

Abdul revealed in the data on the distribution of natural disasters for the period January 1 to June 19, 2023 compiled by BNPB, the total disaster has reached 1,778 cases. Where 605 cases occurred due to extreme weather, 658 cases due to flooding, 321 due to landslides and 154 other cases there were forest and land fires.

Regarding forest and land fires, he stated that 99 percent of forest and land fires were confirmed to have occurred due to human action, with 80 percent of the burned land being processed into gardens by an irresponsible number of people.

According to him, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry and other government officials should not be tempted by the perpetrator's offer and be discouraged considering the bad effects of forest and land fires on the community. For example, you have to wear a mask uncomfortable when doing activities to avoid smoke until the children are exposed to various diseases.

He also reminded that the direct impact of forest and land fires on the government is that it must bear good consequences in the form of cost expenditures, so it must be overcome the continued impact if the escalation of forest and land fires is extraordinary.

"This is our job to prevent forest and land fires, and of course BNPB and ministries/agencies at the central level, we will really support local governments so that in a persuasive manner we can really optimize prevention, even if there is a fire before that, the escalation can be extinguished," said Abdul.

Previously, the Director General of Climate Change Control of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Laksmi Dbahthi, firmly stated that there was no need to wait for forest and land fires to crack down on illegal loggers.

Laksmi stated that the Ministry of Environment and Forestry will fight against the suspects by prioritizing the concept of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) or Lestari Forest Management (PHL), a concept that is dynamic and developing to maintain and improve the value of the economy, social and forest resource environment for the benefit of current and future generations.

As a tangible form of dealing with this problem, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry through the Directorate General of Law Enforcement will cooperate with the police and other law enforcement officers to trace problems in the field.

Intelligence is also involved in collecting evidence, some of which are in the form of personal data of suspected perpetrators, such as who is the leader who funds illegal activities until the designation of the wood is used.

In addition to data from intelligence, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry together with the environmental offices in the local area also built a data-based system that aims to monitor and detect the flow of wood entry and exit in an area, and find out whether the pieces of wood came from official logging areas or not.