JAKARTA – The national disasters mitigation board (BNPB) reported that cases of forest and land fires (Karhutla) in Indonesia during 2020 dropped significantly if compared to the same period in 2019.
BNPB Chairman Doni Monardo said that in 2019 the Karhutla cases engulfed a total area of 1.6 million hectares across Indonesia, while in 2020 as of November the Karhutla cases only damaged a total area of around 300,000 hectares.
“As of November 2020, forest and land fires engulfed a total area of around 300,000 hectares or a decrease of 81 percent if compared to that in the previous year (2019) at a total area of 1.6 million hectares,” said Doni during an year-end webinar on national disasters during 2020 organized by BNPB on Tuesday, 29 December 2020.
Doni, who is also the chairman of the Covid-19 national task force, expressed his appreciation to the regions that had managed to minimize the Karhutla cases in South Sumatera, Jambi, Bengkulu, Riau, West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and East Kalimantan.
“We highly appreciate the regions, especially regions that previously saw high cases of Karhutla. But in 2020 they had managed to reduce the Karhutla cases significantly,” he said.
He also expressed his appreciation to the regional disasters mitigation boards (BPBD) of provinces and regencies, ministries and government institutions, and the military and police who have collaborated in mitigating the Karhutla.
Doni hopes that such collaboration with all stakeholders can be maintained and improved in the future to prevent the cases of Karhutla in their respective regions.
“Without collaborations we won’t be able to tackle the problems of Karhutla in Indonesia. We hope we can keep our success in controlling the Karhutla this year and in the years ahead,” said Doni. (*)
Source: Merdeka.com | Featured image via thejakartapost.com