PALMOILMAGAZINE, JAKARTA – In recent times, numerous individuals sought refuge from catastrophic wildfires that swept through the island of Rhodes in Greece. Just a few weeks prior, a haze originating from Canada enveloped New York in apocalyptic scenes. As Indonesia braces for an anticipated severe El Niño event within the upcoming weeks, a pressing question emerges: how can we effectively avert the recurrence of forest and land fires in the face of the historically hottest days ever recorded?
According to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, the era of global warming has drawn to a close, giving way to what he refers to as “the era of global boiling.” This assertion follows the confirmation by scientists that July is poised to become the hottest month ever recorded worldwide (The Guardian, July 27, 2023), a record that is expected to be surpassed repeatedly.
In July, the average global temperature reached just over 17 degrees Celsius. This is already over 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial level, which the world has committed to prevent. The UN World Meteorological Organization stressed that this would not mark a permanent breach of the 1.5-degree limit set out in the Paris Agreement, which refers to long-term warming (The Jakarta Post, July 29, 2023).
Also Read : Mitigating Forest and Area Fire Risks
In Indonesia, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) forecast of a hotter El Niño in the second half of this year has raised the fear of a recurrence of the 2015 forest and land fire disaster that destroyed an estimated 2.6 million hectares of forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
The World Bank estimates that the 2015 fires crisis cost Indonesia US$16 billion in losses to forestry, agriculture, tourism and other industries. The haze caused respiratory and other illnesses in hundreds of thousands of people across the region and, according to one study, likely led to over 100,000 premature deaths.
Although meteorologists have said this year’s El Niño will not be as severe as the one in 2015, the hotter temperatures and prolonged drought could still dry out vegetation, providing highly combustible fuel for fires, allowing them to spread faster and further.
Hence, the specter of the 2015 fire disaster should alert the central government, local administrations, big plantation companies and the local community to a steely determination to cooperate in fire prevention, detection and mitigation. During that time, land fires extensively occurred in palm oil-producing regions leading to allegations against palm oil companies as the chief culprits of forest and land fires.
Also Read : Canada’s wildfires a reminder of the need for common climate action
There are at least three bold steps that should be taken by Indonesian stakeholders. First, we should keep a close watch the slash-and-burn land-clearing practices by some community members. Because land clearing using excavators is very expensive, the common method used is slash and burn, whether for planting, marking land ownership, or resale.
Various studies have shown that the practice of slashing and burning is still rife in Indonesia. This happens on all types of land, be it community land, forest areas controlled by the government, palm oil company concessions, even ecosystem restoration concessions.
The central government should have been aware of the consequence of weak enforcement against this practice. In the past government precautions and response were totally inadequate in the face of recurrent forest and landscape fires, except when Indonesia was hosting the Asian Games in 2018.
