National Police Chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo Affirms The Role Of Youth Ujung Tombak Keepers Environmental Sustainability

National Police Chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo greeted one of the Jambore participants. (IST)

RIAU - National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo opened the Jambore Karhutla Riau 2025 activity at the Tahura Campground, Sultan Syarif Hasyim, Siak, Friday, April 25.

In his mandate as Ceremony Inspector, the National Police Chief said Indonesia has enormous forest wealth potential with a total area of 95.5 million hectares.

Sigit said that the land area made Indonesia ranked 8th as the country with the widest forest area in the world, and functioned as one of the world's lungs.

"But on the other hand, the condition of a large forest area also has a serious challenge, namely the occurrence of deforestation, one of which is Karhutla," said Sigit.

He said there were at least 376 thousand hectares of forest burned throughout 2024. The fire, he said, had had a broad impact on people's lives, especially in terms of economy and health.

Especially for Riau Province, Sigit said the level of forest fires that occurred last year was 11th with a total of 11 thousand hectares of burned forest.

"This needs special attention, considering the impact of smoke caused not only in Riau Province, but can spread to other provinces and even neighboring countries," he explained.

Sigit then said that from the BMKG analysis, the duration of the Kemarau season this year is expected to be shorter than last year with the peak of the dry season occurring from June to August.

On the other hand, he said the drought rate in the dry season this year is relatively normal due to global climate phenomena such as El Nino and Indian Ocean Dipole in the neutral phase. So that throughout 2025 it is not expected that there will be no extreme drought.

Meanwhile, for the Riau region, Sigit said the potential hotspots due to dry weather and low rainfall are predicted to start happening since May and continue to increase until they reach their peak in July 2025.

Nevertheless, he said the Riau Provincial Government and all relevant stakeholders had taken proactive steps by establishing the Karhutla Disaster Emergency Alert Status from April 1 to November 30.

Sigit revealed that this step was carried out as an effort to mitigate in anticipating the potential for forest and land fires in line with the characteristics of dryer weather compared to other days.

"In dealing with this situation, it is important for all parties to increase vigilance and preparedness and implement an effective strategy in the prevention and control of Karhutla," he said.

In the activities carried out in the Sultan Syarif Hasyim Grand Forest Park, Siak Regency, the National Police Chief also emphasized the importance of the role of youth in preserving a sustainable environment. Youth is the spearhead to build sustainable collective awareness in preserving the environment.

The Jambore Karhutla Riau 2025 will be held for 3 days, namely from 25 to 27 April 2025, and will be attended by more than 2,000 participants from the Scout organization, OSIS, Sispala, PMI, Karang Taruna, Riau youth.

In this activity, a Talkshow will be held with 10 National and Regional Sources, regarding the importance of caring for the environment.