POLICY
JAKARTA (FORESTHINTS.NEWS) - Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya has revealed that the number of hotspots in Indonesia - which indicate potential fire spots - are down as of early September 2020 by around 80% compared to the same period last year.
Using NASA Terra/Aqua satellite data with a confidence level of 80% and above, the minister disclosed that in the period from 1 January to 2 September 2020 (07:00 WIB), there were 1,308 hotspots in the country.
In contrast, she pointed out that during the same period last year there were 6,471 hotspots, representing an extremely sharp drop of 5,163 or 79.79% which translates into a significantly smaller area of forest and land afflicted by fires.
“We are continuing to make efforts on the ground level by mobilizing all possible resources to prolong the sharp downward trend in hotspots over the next few months,” Minister Nurbaya explained in a technical discussion at her official residence (Sep 2).
As previously reported by FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Mar 30), Minister Nurbaya stated, “There will be serious complications if haze-causing fires occur at the same time as COVID-19 continues to spread. Hopefully, such complications can be avoided.”
The photos below depict the efforts being undertaken by Manggala Agni, the ministry’s firefighting force, to extinguish small fire spots in a village in South Sumatra’s OKI regency.
In late February 2020, President Joko Widodo issued a presidential order aimed at strengthening preventive and law enforcement measures in an effort to control forest and land fires.
The following photos show further ground-level efforts being carried out by Manggala Agni and military personnel in order to douse fire spots in a district of Central Kalimantan province.
Strong collaborations
A prior news report by FORESTHINTS.NEWS in early July this year quoted Minister Nurbaya as confirming that permanent solutions to tackle forest and land fires are being tested this year.
“We continue to monitor ground-level updates from hour to hour on the distribution of hotspots, especially in several key provinces,” Minister Nurbaya emphasized.
“This is the first year that permanent solutions aimed at handling the fires are being tested. Intensive and ongoing efforts continue, most notably the application of TMC (weather modification technology) which is a joint effort between the ministry, BPPT, BMKG, BNPB and TNI AU (the air force),” she added.
In implementing TMC, Minister Nurbaya stressed that strong and consistent collaborations are taking place between the military/police, local governments, community fire brigades, volunteers and the private sector, as exemplified by the engagement of two pulp and paper giants, APP and APRIL, in four key provinces.
“We hope that these various efforts will deliver the expected results so that they become permanent long-term solutions,” she asserted.
As reported last month by FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Aug 7), despite the ongoing global pandemic the forestry subsector continued to record positive growth as of the second quarter of the year.
Furthermore, the Norwegian government also announced that it would make a results-based payment (RBP) of USD56 million to Indonesia thanks to the country’s success in achieving reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) for the 2016-2017 period, as detailed in an earlier news story by FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Jul 4).
Indonesia’s latest accolade is the approval of an RBP from the Global Climate Fund (GCF) amounting to USD103.8 million for its performance in lowering emissions through the REDD+ scheme in the 2014-2016 period, as recently reported by FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Aug 28).
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POLICY
JAKARTA (FORESTHINTS.NEWS) - Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya has revealed that the number of hotspots in Indonesia - which indicate potential fire spots - are down as of early September 2020 by around 80% compared to the same period last year.
Using NASA Terra/Aqua satellite data with a confidence level of 80% and above, the minister disclosed that in the period from 1 January to 2 September 2020 (07:00 WIB), there were 1,308 hotspots in the country.
In contrast, she pointed out that during the same period last year there were 6,471 hotspots, representing an extremely sharp drop of 5,163 or 79.79% which translates into a significantly smaller area of forest and land afflicted by fires.
“We are continuing to make efforts on the ground level by mobilizing all possible resources to prolong the sharp downward trend in hotspots over the next few months,” Minister Nurbaya explained in a technical discussion at her official residence (Sep 2).
As previously reported by FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Mar 30), Minister Nurbaya stated, “There will be serious complications if haze-causing fires occur at the same time as COVID-19 continues to spread. Hopefully, such complications can be avoided.”
The photos below depict the efforts being undertaken by Manggala Agni, the ministry’s firefighting force, to extinguish small fire spots in a village in South Sumatra’s OKI regency.
In late February 2020, President Joko Widodo issued a presidential order aimed at strengthening preventive and law enforcement measures in an effort to control forest and land fires.
The following photos show further ground-level efforts being carried out by Manggala Agni and military personnel in order to douse fire spots in a district of Central Kalimantan province.
Strong collaborations
A prior news report by FORESTHINTS.NEWS in early July this year quoted Minister Nurbaya as confirming that permanent solutions to tackle forest and land fires are being tested this year.
“We continue to monitor ground-level updates from hour to hour on the distribution of hotspots, especially in several key provinces,” Minister Nurbaya emphasized.
“This is the first year that permanent solutions aimed at handling the fires are being tested. Intensive and ongoing efforts continue, most notably the application of TMC (weather modification technology) which is a joint effort between the ministry, BPPT, BMKG, BNPB and TNI AU (the air force),” she added.
In implementing TMC, Minister Nurbaya stressed that strong and consistent collaborations are taking place between the military/police, local governments, community fire brigades, volunteers and the private sector, as exemplified by the engagement of two pulp and paper giants, APP and APRIL, in four key provinces.
“We hope that these various efforts will deliver the expected results so that they become permanent long-term solutions,” she asserted.
As reported last month by FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Aug 7), despite the ongoing global pandemic the forestry subsector continued to record positive growth as of the second quarter of the year.
Furthermore, the Norwegian government also announced that it would make a results-based payment (RBP) of USD56 million to Indonesia thanks to the country’s success in achieving reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) for the 2016-2017 period, as detailed in an earlier news story by FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Jul 4).
Indonesia’s latest accolade is the approval of an RBP from the Global Climate Fund (GCF) amounting to USD103.8 million for its performance in lowering emissions through the REDD+ scheme in the 2014-2016 period, as recently reported by FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Aug 28).
RELATED STORIES
