Menhut Raja Juli: El Nino and Long Drought Come, Government Prepares Antisipasi Karhutla

Jakarta - Minister of Forestry Raja Juli Antoni conveyed the government's anticipation of facing the threat of forest and land fires (karhutla) after the BMKG predicted that El Nino would come sooner following a long dry season.

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

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. However, El Nino came sooner. The meeting involved BMKG, BNPB, TNI, Polri, and related agencies.

The government will formulate joint steps to prevent fires from spreading during the dry season. King Juli explained that the area of karhutla continued to decrease in several periods. The area of fire 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.