Government Semai 176.48 Tons Of Salt Overcome Forest And Land Fires

Director of Forest and Land Control of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Thomas Nifinluri (right) sprayed water to extinguish the fire that burned forests and land in West Kalimantan. BETWEEN ANTARA/HO-Ministry of Environment and Forestry

JAKARTA - The Indonesian government noted that 176.48 tons of salt had been seeded to reduce artificial rain through weather modification technology operations in an effort to overcome cases of forest fires and peatlands.

"Overall, April 2023 has so far carried out 206 seeding sorties with a total salt of 176.48 tons," said Director of Forest and Land Fire Control from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) Thomas Nifinluri as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, September 7.

Thomas said the 176.48 tons of salt had been sprinkled to seven provinces, with details of Riau Province as much as 56 sorties of seeding with a total salt of 50.4 tons, South Sumatra and Jambi as many as 55 sorties with a total seeding of 47.2 tons, East Nusa Tenggara Province there are 16 units of weather modification technology with a total salt supply of 11 tons.

Then West Kalimantan as many as 49 seeding sorties with a total salt of 45.48 tons, South Kalimantan Province with 15 weather modification technology sorties with the seeding of 12 tons of salt, and Central Kalimantan Province with 15 units of weather modification technology with a total salt filled with 12 tons.

The Indonesian government is making various efforts to mitigate forest fires and peatlands through mapping fire-prone areas to be handled by firefighters in the field; the management of forest areas by making iron, fuel barriers, and canal barriers.

Furthermore, the development of community forests; the development of an early warning system for forest fires, and disaster management training for the community as well as the development of innovations in controlling forest and land fires.

Previously, Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya Bakar said the number of hotspots in Indonesia had reached 3,788 hotspots as of September 5, 2023.

This number has increased significantly by three times compared to last year's data, which only contained 979 hotspots.

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry continues to control hotspots so as not to spread and cause major fires that devoured forests and peatlands.

Expert Researcher at the Center for Climate and Atmospheric Research at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Eddy Hermawan revealed that this year's dry season will be longer than in previous years due to the effects of the El Nino phenomenon.

If conditions are normal without El Nino, he said, the dry season in Indonesia only lasts about three months, but this year's El Nino has the potential to make the dry season last for nine months.

"El Nino is a global phenomenon. Nearly 90 percent of countries are located around the equator, one of which is that Indonesia has been affected by El Nino," said Eddy.

The United States National Maritime Affairs and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA said that the El Nino phenomenon arose around May 2023 due to rising temperatures above 0.5 degrees Celsius in the Pacific Ocean.

El Nino's peak ranges from November to December 2023.

When El Nino has reached its peak, the phenomenon will decay again as the sea surface temperature in the Pacific Ocean drops to below 0.5 degrees Celsius in May 2024.