El Nino Comes Faster, Government Prepares Antisipasi Karhutla

JAKARTA - The government is preparing special steps to face the threat of forest and land fires after BMKG predicts El Nino will come sooner. The dry season is expected to start earlier and end later than previous patterns.

Minister of Forestry Raja Juli Antoni said the President called a number of ministries and agencies to discuss the anticipation of karhutla in a limited meeting at the Presidential Palace, Jakarta, Tuesday, July 28.

"BMKG's prediction, El Nino will happen faster. Initially it was estimated in 2027, but it will happen this year. Drought comes faster and ends later," said Raja Juli.

According to Raja Juli, El Nino previously occurred in 2015, 2019, and 2023. Based on the four-year pattern, the phenomenon was originally expected to reappear in 2027.

The meeting involved BMKG, BNPB, TNI, Polri, and related agencies. The government will formulate a joint step to prevent fires from spreading during the dry season.

Raja Juli said that forest fires not only damaged forest areas. Smoke from fires can trigger acute respiratory infections, close airports and schools, and stop economic activities.

"Karhutla has an impact on public health. Airports can be closed, schools can be closed, and economic centers can be stopped," he said.

He said that the area of forest fires continued to decrease in several periods. The area of fires was recorded at around 2.6 million hectares in 2015, then 2.1 million hectares in 2019 and 1.1 million hectares in 2023.

Last year, according to Raja Juli, the area of fires also decreased from around 375 thousand hectares to 350 thousand hectares. However, the threat of El Nino makes coordination of prevention needs to be tightened.