Map of Extensive Forest Fires, NTT and NTB Enter New Vulnerable Areas

Illustration of a forest clearing. (Wikimedia Common - John McColgan)

JAKARTA - The threat of forest and land fires is beginning to spread beyond the six provinces that have been the target of karhutla. The government has detected quite massive fires in East Nusa Tenggara and West Nusa Tenggara.

Minister of Forestry Raja Juli Antoni said peat areas in Sumatra and Kalimantan are still the main areas that need to be monitored. However, a new pattern has emerged in areas that were not previously a center of attention.

"The traditional ones are peat areas, such as Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan," Raja Juli said at the Presidential Palace Complex, Jakarta, Tuesday, July 28.

"But there is a new trend. Outside the six provinces, it also happened quite massively, such as in NTT, NTB, and several places," he continued.

The expansion of the vulnerable area will be discussed in a limited meeting regarding the forest fire led by the President. BMKG, BNPB, TNI, Polri, and relevant ministries are also involved.

The discussion was held after BMKG predicted that El Nino would come sooner. This condition has the potential to make the drought last longer and increase the risk of fires.

Raja Juli said the government had reduced the area of forest fires from around 2.6 million hectares in 2015 to 2.1 million hectares in 2019. The figure has dropped again to around 1.1 million hectares in 2023.

However, he assessed that climate change made prevention could not only be focused on peat areas in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

"This requires closer and tighter coordination. El Nino and climate change are real," he said.

Apart from karhutla, Raja Juli said the government would also convey the development of the flood disaster to the President.