In 5 Years, Walhi Noted That Forest Fires In South Sumatra Reached 1 Million Hectares

JAKARTA - The South Sumatra Forum for the Environment (Walhi Sumsel) recorded the results of field monitoring in a five-year period (2015-2020).

The impact of the drought from the dry season to man-made activities, there are 1.012 million hectares of land and forest (Karhutla) burned.

"The burned land consists of forest areas, peatlands, plantation land belonging to both communities and companies," said the campaign manager for Walhi Sumsel, Puspita Indah Sari quoted by Antara, Friday, February 5.

Several spots of burned land, always repeated every year. Based on this fact, WALHI invites the public, local governments and companies in fire-prone areas to take preventive measures.

Karhutla in South Sumatra should be taken seriously by taking direct action to the point of the problem. So far, Walhi noted, only standard actions have been taken to extinguish fires including making artificial rain/weather modifications.

"If the root of the problem that can lead to forest and land fires is not handled properly, forest and land fires will always occur in the dry season with a larger area," said Puspita.

She explained, one of the root problems that can trigger forest and land fires is the unmanaged and exploited peatlands.

In the dry season, peatlands experience dryness and burn easily. Meanwhile, the rainy season will be inundated.

"This has the potential to cause hydrometeorological disasters and crop failure," said Puspita.