Indonesia sees rising wildfire risk amid dry weather conditions: Govt
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Indonesia’s weather agency has said the country is expected to see in 2023 its most severe dry season since 2019.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: PEXELS
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JAKARTA – The Indonesian authorities said on Monday the number of areas where wildfires could occur had doubled over the past week due to dry weather, raising concerns over widespread forest fires even before the country hits peak dry season.
The number of hot spots recorded between July 17 and July 23 surged to 12,701 from 6,082 a week earlier, according to data from Indonesian disaster mitigation agency BNPB.
Most of the increase in hot spots was spotted in Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of Borneo island, as well as in Java and Papua, said BNPB spokesman Abdul Muhari.
“Although not all hot spots will turn into fire spots, we still have to be vigilant because of the significant increase that we are seeing,” he said in a virtual briefing.
He highlighted that Indonesia had yet to reach the peak of its dry season, expected between August and early September.
Indonesia’s weather agency has said the country is expected to see in 2023 its most severe dry season since 2019, partially due to the return of the El Nino weather pattern.
Mr Abdul warned people not to leave fires unattended and to report any significant drop in water level in peatland areas. He also said the authorities were conducting aerial patrols in six priority provinces.
The South-east Asian nation experienced devastating forest fires in 2015 and 2019 that blanketed the country and parts of the South-east Asian region with haze.
The 2019 fires caused about US$5.2 billion (S$7 billion) of economic losses in eight Indonesian provinces, according to the World Bank. REUTERS
