Efforts to reduce the wildfires ablaze in Indonesia will be challenging as the El Niño weather phenomenon will peak this month, Raja Juli Antoni, the country’s forestry minister, said on Tuesday, adding the devastation was largely man-made.
For weeks Indonesia has intensified efforts to contain haze from forest and land fires in six provinces in Borneo and Sumatra islands after smoke triggered respiratory illnesses and forced thousands of schools to move classes online, including in neighbouring Malaysia.
The super-El Niño weather conditions worsen the fires, causing drought.
Hot spots have been reduced in Kalimantan and Sumatra by the end of August, Raja Juli said.
“Our problems are not over. September is the peak of El Niño,” he said. “September is the main fight for us.”
Wildfires burnt about 200,000ha of land from January to July, ministry data showed, increasing from 107,465ha burnt from January to June.
Raja Juli said the fires were mostly deliberately set, either by individuals or corporations.
The ministry has fined six forestry permit holders for their alleged roles, adding a criminal investigation was possible.
Satellite imaging has revealed that 42 companies hold concessions with high wildfire potential, Rizal Irawan, a senior official at the country’s environment ministry, said on Monday.
Authorities have modified the weather to trigger rain and “water bombed” areas to contain the hot spots and mitigate the fires, Raja Juli said.
The Philippines’s environmental bureau said haze blanketed Manila on Tuesday, pushing air quality to “very unhealthy” and “acutely unhealthy” levels in some areas.
The air quality in six areas in Malaysia’s state of Sarawak reached hazardous levels on Tuesday, data from Malaysia’s environmental department showed.
Reuters
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