The Canadian crisis is expected to open our eyes to the fact that land fires can happen anywhere due to various causes. They can be either natural phenomena or man-made incidents without specific links to any particular development or activities.
Consequently, in anticipation of the upcoming El Nino, we expect to have a higher incidence of land fires and haze. Historically, forest fires during the dry season are usually caused by a combination of several factors, including slash-and-burn for subsistence farming, land clearing for agriculture and accidental fires related to the daily habits of people, such as untended stoves and carelessly throwing away lit cigarette butts.
The crisis also calls for global action in the improvement of forest fire prevention.
Indonesia as the ASEAN chair this year can promote globally the 2002 ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. In 2015 Indonesia ratified this agreement, which includes programs on joint prevention, preparedness, national and joint emergency response, procedures for deployment, technical assistance and scientific research collaboration. This type of cooperation can be elevated among Global South countries, to form stronger collaboration for preventing fire and haze that have been blamed on us.
In conclusion, like the UNFCCC that acknowledges the different capabilities and differing responsibilities of individual countries in addressing climate change, the wildfires in Canada are a reminder to all of us of the need for common climate action.
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Forest fires and haze in Indonesia have been overly politicized and manipulated to demonize certain commodities or finger-pointing at particular parties to serve vested interests.
For the sake of mitigating the climate crisis, we need to stop scapegoating and the politicization of any climate disaster.
It will be far better for us to develop a common understanding of forest fires and work together in a constructive manner to prevent the recurrence of such disastrous incidents.
Edi Suhardi and Agam Fatchurrochman
The writers are Sustainability Analysts
