Environment Minister Strongly Against Forest Fire Arsonists

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Environment and Forestry Agency (KLHK) Minister Siti Nurbaya asserted that transboundary haze caused by forest fires from Indonesia to neighboring countries has not reoccurred.

“Our efforts in fighting forest and land fires are constantly acted across a number of hotspots,” said the minister in a press release today.

She maintained that there have been firm enforcements across 19 concession lands in West Kalimantan, which eventually saw them being permanently sealed.

“Up to Sunday, September 8, there is a dropping trend up to a third of Wednesday’s hotspots on September 4^th,” said the Minister.

Other than constant firefighting with local residents, the government and state authorities, she explained, are currently investigating cases of suspicious forest and land fires and attempting to reveal the networks of people surrounding these suspicious forest fires.

The government said that Indonesia has adopted an integrated firefighting method following the major 2015 fires, which she claims is evident in the years following from 2016, 2017, and 2018.

The Environment and Forestry Agency asserts that 99 percent of the incidents were intentionally caused by arsonists. However, she assures the international community that the Indonesian government constantly works hard to suppress the forest fires.

ANTARA