PEKANBARU – The forest and land fires (Karhutla) in Indonesia have shown a significant decrease. The forestry ministry announced that as of early September 2025, total areas impacted by forest and land fires drastically decreased up to 11,000 hectares if compared to the same period during last year. The achievement is seen highly contributed by Manggala Agni as the vanguard of efforts to prevent Karhutla cases.
Based on data collected by the forestry ministry, total areas impacted by Karhutla in 2024 reached 99,032 hectares. But this year the Karhutla cases have decreased as a result of pro-active steps and quick responses that have been undertaken since early this year. “The decrease is a positive indication of our joint efforts,” Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni said in a press statement on Tuesday (9/9/2025).
Raja Juli Antoni said that the success was supported by a variety of strategy, from the increase of prevention patrols, socializations, and the use of more advanced technology of monitoring.
“Synergy among institutions, including military, police, regional governments, and the general public is also the key factor,” he said.
The Manggala Agni, as a brigade of controlling Karhutla under the authority of forestry ministry, has played a vital role in every field operation. Members of Manggala Agni are assigned in areas prone to fires, especially in Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi, to extinguish fires and hotspots.
On 8 September 2025, Minister Raja Juli Antoni led a coordination meeting of forest and land control acceleration task force in Bogor, West Java. During the meeting, he emphasized the importance of increasing the capacity and commitment of Manggala Agni.
“Be the formidable spearhead in efforts of preventing and tackling forest and land fires in Indonesia,” he said.
Besides land operations, the Manggala Agni also utilizes helicopters to extinguish fires from the air, a strategy that has been proven to be effective in reaching difficult areas. After managing to extinguish fires, they will conduct mopping up, a patrol to ensure there is no longer smoke residue.
Meanwhile, data from the forestry ministry shows that as of July 2025, total land areas impacted by Karhutla reached 99,032.51 hectares, which are a significant decrease compared to 1,161,193 hectares in 2023. The drastic reduction has proven the effectiveness of the program and alertness of field officers.
“The achievement has shown that our coordinated efforts of prevention had paid off in mitigating the environmental disaster. The efforts pursued by forestry ministry and all related stakeholders, especially Manggala Agni, have created a new hope for the protection of forests and land areas of Indonesia in the future. (*)
Sawitindonesia.com. Karhutla di Indonesia Menunjukkan Penurunan Signifikan. https://sawitindonesia.com/karhutla-di-indonesia-menunjukkan-penurunan-signifikan/. 9 September 2025
