Preventing Still Muncul Karhutla, Commission IV Proposes Approach To Residents Through Local Wisdom

Illustration of BPBD officers extinguishing forest and land fires. (Antaranews)

JAKARTA - Member of Commission IV of the House of Representatives Daniel Johan encouraged the strengthening of supervision at the local government level, to prevent forest and land fires (Karhutla) that continue to occur. He emphasized the importance of massive education by regional work equipment.

"Regions have deep knowledge of local characteristics, availability of resources, and strong relationships with local communities. This will be the key to preventing forest and land fires," said Daniel, Tuesday, June 27.

Referring to data from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK), the area of forest and land fires in Indonesia throughout 2022 is January-December amounting to 204,894 hectares (ha). This fire figure fell by 253,973 ha or the equivalent of 42.9% compared to the previous year which was recorded at 358,867 ha.

Despite the decline, Daniel still asked the Government to solve the Karhutla problem considering that Indonesia is rich in natural resources that must be maintained and preserved.

With the widespread Karhulta effect, Daniel assessed the need for early prevention which can be done regularly by providing socialization, appeals and education to the community and land owners. Approaches from socio-cultural elements must also be considered.

"All religious leaders, community leaders, village heads, sub-district heads, regents, and other regional apparatus must continue to socialize to villages that often experience forest and land fires. It also needs persuasion from a local wisdom perspective," said Daniel.

In addition, increasing efforts to control forest and land fires such as in terms of emergency status, integrated patrols, air operations that include air patrols, water bombings, and the manufacture of artificial rain or Weather Modification Technology (TMC) are considered to have also been encouraged. Daniel also emphasized the importance of ground operations which include independent patrols and early extinguishing.

As is known, the case of forest and land fires has occurred again, one of which is in South Kalimantan Province. From the records of the Regional Disaster Management Agency of South Kalimantan Province (BPBD South Kalimantan), the total area while forest and land fires in the area reached 163.15 hectares. The data was collected until Saturday (24/6).

From the fire, it is known that there were 2,168 hotspots spread across 13 districts and cities in South Kalimantan, such as in Banjarbaru City, Tanah Laut Regency, and Banjar Regency.

He encouraged quick and effective handling of karhulta in South Kalimantan. He also asked the authorities to investigate the causes and perpetrators of karhulta. According to him, serious and decisive actions are needed to create a deterrent effect on the perpetrators of the arson.

"There must be serious and firm efforts. Efforts to destroy forests and land are the practice of destroying state assets and the nation's future which must be seriously considered by the authorities," said Daniel.

The member of the Commission in the DPR in charge of environmental affairs also asked joint officers to take steps to minimize the spread of hotspots. That way, said Daniel, karhulta will not spread to various other areas.

"Efforts to control hotspots so that they do not spread are also important. Do not let fires spread rapidly, which is even difficult to extinguish. We cannot expect continuous rain assistance if we want forest fires not to spread," he said.

On the other hand, Daniel reminded the central government to have the most accurate strategy possible when drafting policies related to the prevention and handling of forest and land fires.

"This includes the authority to establish strict rules related to forest and land management," concluded Daniel.