Indonesia Mobilizes to Combat Health-Damaging Forest Fires

Indonesia Mobilizes to Combat Health-Damaging Forest Fires

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Jakarta, Indonesia (AP) — Four Indonesian provinces have declared emergencies in anticipation of worsening forest fires that each year spread health-damaging haze across much of Southeast Asia.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said Wednesday that emergency alerts in Riau and South Sumatra provinces on the island of Sumatra and West and Central Kalimantan on Borneo will make it easier to mobilize fire-fighting operations and support from the central government.

The agency said satellites have detected 90 “hotspots” or fires across Indonesia, with the biggest numbers in West and Central Kalimantan. Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province, has been blanketed in smoke, it said.

Record Indonesian forest fires in 2015 spread haze across a swath of Southeast Asia and, according to a study by Harvard and Columbia universities, hastened 100,000 deaths.

Fires are often started by smallholders and plantation companies to clear land for planting. Many areas of Indonesia are prone to rapid burning because of the draining of swampy peatland forests for pulpwood and palm oil plantations.

Pontianak resident Reinardo Sinaga said rain in the past few days reduced the choking smoke that had affected the city for the previous two weeks.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-21/indonesia-mobilizes-to-combat-health-damaging-forest-fires

Severe Drought Causes Forest Fire Damage Across S. Korea

A prolonged drought that has plagued South Korea’s southern provinces this winter has spread to other regions in the nation.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said on Monday that drought advisories and warnings have been issued in most parts of the country, including Seoul, Daegu and throughout Gangwon Province.

Amid the ongoing dry spell, since the beginning of this year through Sunday, there have been 112 forest fires, which have burned nearly 210 hectares of land.

Read more: http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/news_Dm_detail.htm?No=134062

Mempawah facing situation of emergency against haze of smoke

Published By: ANTARANEWS.com

Pontianak, W Kalimantan (ANTARA News) – The district administration of Mempawah of West Kalimantan has announced a situation of emergency against the haze of smokes with a number of peatland areas having caught fire as dry season began to hit the region.

“The status of emergency will last until June 30, 2018,” acting district head of Mempawah, Gusti Ramlana, said here on Sunday.

Gusti Ramlana said dots of bushfires had been monitored in a number of areas, adding the dry season began only early this month bur the impact is quite damaging.

“I hope the BPPD (local disaster mitigation agency) could give a map of areas vulnerable to forest and bushfires in Mempawah,” he said.

Read more: https://en.antaranews.com/news/114674/mempawah-facing-situation-of-emergency-against-haze-of-smoke

(U.SYS/A/H-ASG/F001)

Editor: Heru Purwanto

Paro forest fire likely to be contained today

Paro forest fire likely to be contained today

 The forest fire that has been raging for the last four days in Paro is likely to be contained today, dzongkhag officials say.

Paro’s dzongdag Tenzin Thinley said that the fire is subsiding for now. “It is almost contained and we are hoping it would be contained by today,” he said. “But, we cannot say for sure as it would depend on the wind and weather. Some animals such as yaks have been lost to the fire.”

He said that the fire didn’t reach the fire line that was created as personnel from the Royal Bhutan Police (RBP), the Royal Bhutan Army (RBA), Desuungs, community and volunteers helped douse the fire before it reached the fire-line.

“The weather was also favorable,” he said.

Read more: http://www.kuenselonline.com/paro-forest-fire-likely-to-be-contained-today/

Inggris Kucurkan Rp40 Miliar ke RI-Malaysia, untuk Apa Saja?

Inggris Kucurkan Rp40 Miliar ke RI-Malaysia, untuk Apa Saja?

By: Ezra Natalyn

Published by: Viva

VIVA – Inggris mendanai proyek baru untuk penanganan kebakaran hutan di Indonesia dan Malaysia dengan nilai 2 juta Poundsterling atau setara dengan Rp40 miliar. Program yang digagas Badan Antariksa Inggris ini disalurkan melalui jalur Program Kemitraan Internasional yaitu untuk mengatasi kebakaran hutan melalui satelit.

Proyek ini disebutkan merupakan salah satu dari 10 proyek baru di dunia yang melibatkan sejumlah organisasi di bidang ruang angkasa dengan total proyek seluruhnya hingga Rp720 miliar.

Read more by https://www.viva.co.id/berita/dunia/1007232-inggris-kucurkan-rp40-miliar-ke-ri-malaysia-untuk-apa-saja

 

Bangkok issues air pollution warning

BANGKOK • Residents of Bangkok, one of the world’s top tourist destinations, were warned yesterday that the city’s air quality had hit dangerous levels, just days after the pollution control agency appealed to residents to wear face masks.

Air pollution in the Thai capital has come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks, with residents complaining of smog and respiratory problems. Some schools were closed yesterday while others kept children indoors.

Air Quality Index (AQI) formulas usually include up to six main pollutants including PM2.5, PM10, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and ground-level ozone.

Read more http://www.straitstimes.com/world/bangkok-issues-air-pollution-warning

Asian Games should remain unaffected by forest fires: President

Jakarta (ANTARA News) – Implementation of the ASIAN Games in Indonesia should not be affected by smoke arising from forest and land fires, according to President Joko Widodo.

The 18th Asian Games will be organized from Aug 18 to Sept 2 at the Bung Karno Sports Arena of Jakarta and Jakabaring Sports City of Palembang in South Sumatra Province.

“This year, we host the ASIAN Games in Jakarta and Palembang. I remind you to not let the smoke from forest and land fires arise during the implementation of the event,” Widodo noted during a briefing to participants of the National Coordination Meeting on Forest and Land Fire Control in 2018 at the State Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday.

He pointed out that smoke from forest and land fires will tarnish the image of Indonesia and disrupt flights during the ASIAN Games.

“We have to work hard to ensure that the ASIAN Games run smoothly without any disturbance from forest and land fires,” he stated.

Read more https://en.antaranews.com/news/114525/asian-games-should-remain-unaffected-by-forest-fires-president

Reported by Joko Susilo
(T.M052/A/KR-BSR/F001)

Editor: Heru Purwanto

Jokowi pledges fewer forest fires for this year

The Indonesian leader said he had issued a guarantee of fewer forest fires for this year. (2018).

“In 2015, every time I met with the Singapore and Malaysian prime ministers and they complained to me about the haze,” the president said at a national coordination meeting at Merdeka Palace on forest and plantation fire mitigation on Tuesday (Feb 6).

Read more http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/jokowi-pledges-fewer-forest-fires-for-this-year

Indonesia unveils plan to halve forest fires by 2019

by on 29 December 2017

JAKARTA – The Indonesian government has unveiled an ambitious plan to nearly halve the number of fire hotspots in the country by 2019, in part through the restoration of degraded peat forests.

The fires are an annual occurrence, linked to the clearing of forests for logging and monoculture plantations. In recent years the problem has been exacerbated by the draining of peat swamps, which leaves them highly combustible.

Under the new plan revealed Tuesday by the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy, the government aims to tackle the fires through a two-pronged approach.

First is ensuring that the 24,000 square kilometers (9,266 square miles) of degraded peat areas slated to be restored by Indonesia’s peatland restoration agency (BRG) are not burned. Second is boosting prevention efforts in 731 villages in Sumatra and Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of Borneo, identified as being historically prone to fires.

In all, the plan calls for the protection of 121,000 square kilometers (46,718 square miles) of land, which, if kept successfully free of fire by 2019, will reduce the anticipated number of hotspots by 49 percent compared to business-as-usual levels.

Reed more Indonesia unveils plan to halve forest fires by 2019

Forest fire risk assessment using hotspot analysis in GIS

This article by Dr. El-Said Mamdouh Mahmoud Zahran et al. is published in The Open Civil Engineering Journal, Volume 11, 2017
BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS

 

The recent forest fire incidents are becoming a major concern as they seriously threaten the environment, economy and human’s safety. This research study aims to figure out forest fire hotspots using advanced hotspot analysis in Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Further, it can help propose appropriate preventive measures using Site Suitability and Network Analyses in GIS. The study focuses on Brunei Darussalam because it is increasingly struck by forest fire incidents among all regions in Southeast Asia.

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