Entering The Dry Season in Riau, Governor Urges Residents Not To Clear Land For New Plantations To Prevent Forest And Land Fires

Illustration of extinguishing forest and land fires or forest and land fires. (Between)

RIAU - Governor of Riau Syamsuar said several areas he leads have entered the dry season. He asked his citizens to be involved in efforts to prevent forest and land fires by avoiding the triggers.

"These days I am in the area, and the heat is different from before. In 2022 Riau will be in a wet-dry season, and there will still be rain if in 2023 there will be no rain in the dry dry season," said Syamsuar in his statement in Pekanbaru, Riau, Friday 17 February, confiscated by Antara.

He explained that several forest and land fires had been observed to have occurred in Riau some time ago.

Even though all of this is within control limits, Syamsuar hopes that regional officials will educate the public so that no one burns, especially to open new plantation areas.

"If there are farmers who need tools to process agricultural products, but cannot afford to buy them, the Riau Provincial Government through the Head of the UPT Agriculture has prepared tools for the farmers," he said.

Because he continued, at each UPT there are tools, namely excavators and other land-clearing tools for farmers who can't afford them. The purpose of providing the tools provided at each UPT is so that no one will burn them later. Because, if there is a fire, of course, it can cause smog.

Therefore we invite the community to be able to work together well to protect the environment. We must maintain a healthy atmosphere so that no more smoke disasters due to forest and land fires (Karhutla) occur.

The Riau Provincial Government has made various anticipatory efforts such as mapping 134 fire-prone sub-districts to anticipate forest and land fires. In addition, he issued this Governor's Decree regarding the Establishment of Emergency Alert Status for Forest and Land Fires (Karhutla) in Riau Province.

There were 134 sub-districts in Riau Province that were at high risk of experiencing forest and land fires, namely Kampar Regency with 13 sub-districts, Inhil Regency with 19 sub-districts, Rohil Regency with 18 sub-districts, Kuansing Regency with 14 sub-districts, Inhu Regency with 12 sub-districts, Siak Regency with 12 sub-districts. , and Pelalawan Regency 12 districts.

Next, in Pekanbaru City, four sub-districts are prone to Karhutla, Dumai City has 4 sub-districts, Rokan Hulu has 6 sub-districts, Meranti Islands has 9 sub-districts, and Bengkalis has 11 sub-districts.

Based on data from the Riau BPBD from January 1 to February 11 2023, there are 15 coordinates of hotspots or hotspots spread across districts/cities, namely Inhil 5 points, Siak 4 points, Kampar 2 points, Dumai 1 point, Rohul 1 point, Inhu 1 point, Pelalawan 1 fire point.

"For anticipatory efforts, 525 drilled wells were also built, 9,672 canal blockers, 1,546 reservoirs, 817 fire pumps, and 1,499 rolls of the fire hose. However, we also need to check the availability of this equipment and coordinate with the regions if there is a need. lacking," he said.

In addition, the Riau Provincial Government submitted a request for assistance from 10 water bombing helicopters and patrols to the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) to prevent forest and land fires (Karhutla) in Riau 2023.