INDONESIA – RFMRC-SEA

Rainforests and Peatlands Fires Center of Excellence

Bogor – West Java , 9 July 2022
Author: Bambang Hero Saharjo

On 29 June 2022, the LoA between the French Embassy and Timor Leste in Indonesia was successfully signed, represented by Jean-Michel DUMAZ (The Civil Protection Regional Expert, localized in the French Embassy to Singapore) and Prof. Dodik Ridho Nurrohmat (Vice-Rector). for International Affairs, Collaboration, and Alumni Relations) representing IPB University. The collaboration is about “RAINFORESTS AND PEATLANDS FIRES CENTER of EXCELLENCE”.

This project aims to support IPB for science-based education and training capabilities development in the field of peatland and forest fires prevention, contingency, and suppression. The French Embassy will implement through the project a pluriannual program for expertise sharing, that will include a Master’s degree education in France, several trainings of trainers (ToT) activities, digital solutions for education implementation, equipment for field fire response procurement.

The project is qualified as Centre of Excellence (CoE) for the enhanced expertise shared, and for the innovative education tools implemented, as virtual reality, simulation and learning management systems. Physically located in Bogor in IPB facilities, the CoE will deliver from the expertise shared from France, education programs for the Indonesian community involved in forest and peatland fires management. The CoE will also implement education sessions for the ASEAN and overseas countries, in particular those having similar forest and peatland and strongly affected by fires

Areas of Cooperation

The development of the cooperation regarding the development of the rainforest and peatland fires center of excellence will particularly focus on the following areas:

a) Education and training, skills, and expertise development
b) Knowledge management,
c) Learning tools and systems
d) Fires data collection and Lessons learned
e) Scientist cooperation

Forms of Cooperation

In each afore-mentioned area, the cooperation may result in:

− Sharing of knowledge, expertise, and best practices,
− Higher education and research partnerships,
− Provision of experts, instructors, and specialist for training and technical assistance,
− Exchange of experts or trainees in the framework of study visits or training activities,
− Participation in meetings, conferences, or seminars,
− Implementation of digital tool for learning and education,
− Supply of equipment for field trainings and experiments

The cooperation that the Signatories intend to implement will be developed for a period of five (05) years from the date of the signing of the present Agreement. It may be extended for further periods of five (05) years provided the Signatories jointly express such an intent. The Signatories may decide to put an end to this cooperation, by notifying the other Signatory of this intention three (03) months in advance.

As a follow-up to the above collaboration, training activities on “Fire Behavior Analyst” have been carried out for 4 days from 4 to 7 July 2022 which take place from 13.00 to 17.00 every day. The training was provided by French fire experts, namely Sebastien LAHAYE, Xavier JOSEPH and Jean-Michel DUMAZ. The training was officially opened by Jean-Michel Dumaz, and the Executive Director of the Regional Fire Management Resource Center-Southeast Asia Prof. Dr. Ir. Bambang Hero Saharjo, M.Agr. The training was facilitated by the Regional Fire Management Resource Center-Southeast Asia followed by IPB University (Faculty of Forestry and Environment), BNPB, BPBD South Sumatra, BPBD North Sumatra, Directorate of Forest and Land Fire Control, Directorate General of PPI, Ministry of Environment and Forestry; and the Sumatra Regional Land and Forest Fire Climate Change Control Center.

The training is carried out in English assisted by a translator into Indonesian, making it easier to understand the material presented. The training is carried out online with the support of training materials written in English. During the training, discussions were held related to the material provided which was related to the conditions and efforts made by the government.

On the final day of the training, a questionnaire with 20 questions related to the material provided was held in order to understand the extent to which the participants had understood the material presented by experts from France and its implications for fire control efforts carried out by the government. As a final word, all participants were happy with the material provided and not a few of the material provided was something new for them, so not a few of the participants suggested that this training be continued, including the training carried out in the field. As a form of attendance of the training participants, the French Embassy gave a certificate.

Activities RFMRC-SEA INDONESIA ITTO

Office in Charge of ITTO Visit Regional Fire Management Resource Center-Southeast Asia, Faculty of Forestry and Environment IPB University

Figure. Executive Director Regional Fire Management Resource Center-Southeast Asia and Dr Hwan-Ok Ma, Officer in Charge ITTO

Bogor, 30 June 2022

On June 30, 2022, Dr. Hwan-Ok Ma, Officer in Charge ITTO came to visit the Regional Fire Management Resource Center-Southeast Asia in the Faculty of Forestry and Environment, IPB University, Kampus IPB Darmaga Bogor, West Java, Indonesia.

His arrival besides wanting to see what activities the fire center was doing, he also discussed opportunities for cooperation in the future. So far, the ITTO has done a lot for forest and land fire control activities since more than 25 years ago, including the guidelines for forest fire control for the tropics. These guidelines are still being used and are still relevant, as well as being a reference for other countries to develop similar guidelines.

Last year ITTO also held a seminar on forest fires at Cop 26 in Glassgow, England, at the Indonesian stage by presenting various experts including the Executive Director of RFMRC-SEA. ITTO also collaborated with the Faculty of Forestry and Environment, IPB University, to conduct a monthly webinar on forest and land fire control in various aspects for 7 meetings involving forest and land fire experts from Indonesia, ASEAN and foreign countries. The paper presented and discussed during the webinar has been published in the April 2022 edition of the Journal of Tropical Silviculture, under Department of Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry and Environment, IPB University. On that occasion Dr. Ma invited the Executive Director of RFMRC-SEA as one of the speakers in a seminar on the forest fire to be held at Cop-27 in Egypt which will be held in the second week of November 2022. Also conveyed by Dr. Ma about the existence of the The 8^th International Wildfire Conference (IWFC) meeting which will be held in Portugal in May 2023. It should also be noted that ITTO often helps experts, especially those from developing countries to be able to attend in international meetings.

Hopefully Dr. Ma’s arrival can make the Fire Center even more active in its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other negative impacts as a result of forest and land fires.

Activities RFMRC-SEA INDONESIA RFMRC-SEA

IPB University Launching System Monitoring and Reporting Technology for Fire Prevention Patrol (SMART Patrol Information System) (SIPP Karhutla)

IPB University Launching System Monitoring and Reporting Technology for Fire Prevention Patrol (SMART Patrol Information System) (SIPP Karhutla)

IPB Convention Center Bogor, 29 Juni 2022

IPB University Launches the System Monitoring and Reporting Technology for Fire Prevention Patrol (SMART Patrol Information System) (SIPP Karhutla), it was carried out by the Chancellor of IPB University Prof. Arif Satria, accompanied by the Dean of FMIPA IPB University Dr. Berry Juliandi, Deputy Head of Research Division of LPPM IPB University Prof. Sugeng Heri Suseno, Dean of the Faculty of Forestry and Environment Dr. Naresworo Nugroho, Director General of Climate Change Control of Forest and Land Fires – Ministry of Environment and Forestry Ir. Laksmi Dhewanthi, M.A, Director of Forest and Land Fire Control – Ministry of Environment and Forestry Ir. R Bassar Manullang, , Representative from LPDP, Triyoga Adi Perdana and Officer in Charge of ITTO, Dr Hwan-Ok MA.

The Chancellor of IPB University said that this Karhutla SIPP is a breakthrough from IPB University, which hopefully could solve fire problems through the technology. This system, he said, was also part of an early warning system to predict the future in terms of preventing forest fires. The Chancellor added that currently managing natural resources must be solved with technology 4.0 so that it can improve the ability to predict with precision.

The launch of the System Monitoring and Reporting Technology for Fire Prevention Patrol (SMART Patrol Information System) (SIPP Karhutla) was carried out simultaneously with the holding of the National Seminar “Forest and Land Fire Prevention entitled Policy, Social Approach, and Technological Innovation” by organized the Department of Computer Science, FMIPA IPB University with the Department of Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry and Environment, IPB University and the Directorate of Forest and Land Fire Control, Directorate General of Climate Change Control, Ministry of Environment and Forestry are supported by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and the Education Fund Management Institute (LPDP) of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia. The event was held at the IPB International Convention Center, (29-30/6/2022).

The System Monitoring and Reporting Technology for Fire Prevention Patrol (SMART Patrol Information System) was built as a tool to support the implementation of forest and land fire prevention patrols (karhutla) in Indonesia. The development and/or development of this system is carried out by the Department of Computer Science, FMIPA IPB in collaboration with the Center for Climate Change and Forest and Land Fire Control (Balai PPIKHL) for the Sumatra Region, the PPIKHL Center for the Kalimantan Region and the Directorate for Forest and Land Fire Control, the Directorate General for Climate Change Control. Ministry of Environment and Forestry. SIPP Karhutla – SMART Patrol Information System consists of a Mobile Application for recording data on forest and land fire patrols, a Database Management System for managing forest and land fire patrol data, and a Web-Based Application for real time monitoring of patrol activities, user management, reporting, and analysis of spatial data on forest and land fire patrols.

The use of SIPP Karhutla has been regulated in the Regulation of the Director General of Climate Change Control No. P.10/PPI/SET/KUM.1/12/2020 concerning Procedures for Using the Information System for Forest and Land Fire Prevention Patrols (SIPP Karhutla) as a reference in forest and land fire prevention patrols. This system has been used to support the implementation of forest and land fire prevention patrols in the Manggala Agni Operations Area (DAOPS) in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Currently, the initiation of the use of SIPP Karhutla – SMART Patrol Information System has also been carried out in the areas of Java, Bali, Nusa Tenggara, and Maluku, Papua. The use of SIPP Karhutla – SMART Patrol Information System has been proven to support the implementation of forest and land fire prevention patrols in the field and manage patrol data more effectively and efficiently, with an efficiency level of 39.2% for recording patrol field data, 31.9% for reporting patrol field data, and 59.7% for the preparation of patrol data reports.

The construction and/or development of the SIPP Karhutla – SMART Patrol Information System is also supported by funding from the Education Fund Management Institute (LPDP) of the Ministry of Finance and the KLHK-ITTO Cooperation Activity PP-A/56-340-1 Capacity Building on Forest and Land Fire Management in Indonesia.

Link Youtube: Sipongi KLHK and Dept. Ilmu Komputer IPB

By: Committee National Seminar SIPP Karhutla

Hotspots INDONESIA RFMRC-SEA

Forest fires: Satellites detect 62 hotspots in North Sumatra

Reporter: Juraidi, Fardah | Editor: Rahmad Nasution
29th March 2022

Medan, North Sumatra (ANTARA) – The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has reported 62 hotspots indicating forest or plantation fires in a number of areas in North Sumatra province on Tuesday.

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ASEAN climate change Forestry INDONESIA RFMRC-SEA

Sustainable forests for combating climate change

Reporter: Prisca T V, Mecca Yumna | Editor: Sri Haryati
21 March 2022

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia is ready to embark on a new chapter of life, as the Nusantara Capital City begins its development with the rehabilitation of forests in the area, as said by President Joko Widodo.

During a visit to the Mentawir Nursery, North Penajam Paser District, East Kalimantan, on March 14, 2022, the president said that the rehabilitation was meant to revitalize the forest area around the city to its original function as a tropical forest and not a homogeneous monoculture expanse of vegetation.

Efforts to rehabilitate forests in the new capital will be supported by construction of the Mentawir Nursery that will produce 15-20 million seedlings to be planted in critical lands.

The measure was taken to materialize the concept of a forest city for the new capital, wherein of the 256 thousand hectares of the IKN authority area, around 70 percent is in the form of natural cover and trees.

Not only the new capital city, but other forests in Indonesia were also rehabilitated by the government, through the Environment and Forestry Ministry, in a bid to suppress the rate of deforestation in the country.

Rehabilitation efforts have been one of Indonesia’s focuses in recent years. The focus also extended to peat and mangrove areas.

Establishment of the Peatland Restoration Agency, which is now the Peat and Mangrove Restoration Agency, indicated the government’s commitment to restoring and rehabilitating degraded peat and mangrove areas.

The forestry and other land use (FOLU) sector is also in the spotlight when Indonesia targets a net carbon sink in the sector by 2030. It was expected that net zero emissions could be achieved in 2060 or earlier.

In the updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) climate target document, Indonesia targets a 29-percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 alone. If the global community extended its support, it is expected to reach the 41-percent target of reduction.

Of these targets, FOLU has the largest reduction target of 17.2 percent through individual efforts and 24.1 percent with support from the global community.

The rest came from the energy sector (11 percent and 15.5 percent), waste (0.38 percent and 1.4 percent), agriculture (0.32 percent and 0.13 percent), and industry and product use or IPPU (0. 10 percent and 0.11 percent).

Indonesia’s commitment in the FOLU sector resulted in several achievements, one of which was the reduction of deforestation by 75 percent to 115,460 hectares during the 2019-2020 period.

This figure shows a decrease as compared to the deforestation of 462,460 hectares during the 2018-2019 period.

According to the ministry’s data, the gross deforestation rate during the 2019-2020 period reaches around 119,091 hectares, with reforestation covering an area of 3,631 hectares. Meanwhile, gross deforestation during the 2018-2018 period was recorded at 465,500 hectares and the reforestation area reached three thousand hectares.

The area burned due to forest fires has decreased in recent years. Based on SiPongi data from the Environment and Forestry Ministry, the area burned in 2021 reached 358,867 hectares, or up from 296,942 hectares in 2020.

However, this number shows a drastic decrease from the area burned in 2015 and 2019, which reached 2.6 million hectares and 1.6 million hectares, respectively.

In 2021, vegetative forest and land rehabilitation efforts were also conducted in an area of 203,386 hectares.

It comprises forest rehabilitation in an area of 46,752 hectares and mangrove rehabilitation in an area of 35,881 hectares.

As efforts to rehabilitate the land were made in an area of 67,138.73 hectares, so were the efforts to rehabilitate watersheds spanning an area of 11,709 hectares.

Sustainable forest

Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar stated that Indonesia will continue to move to fulfill its commitments to control climate change without waiting for promises from developed countries. She delivered the statement on the occasion of the 2022 Forester Service Day.

To cement Indonesia’s commitment to achieving the FOLU Net Sink target by 2030, the ministry issued the Decree of the Environment and Forestry Ministry Number 168 of 2022 that contains the 2030 FOLU Net Sink Operational Plan.

The minister stated that after 2030, the FOLU sector was expected to be able to absorb greenhouse gases along with reducing emissions from energy transition activities as well as other sector exploration activities to achieve carbon neutral or net zero emissions by 2060.

Minister Bakar said that the program would apply the principles of sustainable development that include sustainable forest management as well as environmental governance and carbon management.

The main target remains on the efforts to reduce deforestation and forest degradation, she highlighted.

Although it is not easy, Indonesia will continue to employ the principles of sustainability as the basis for environmental development.

This sustainable foundation is also the theme of World Forest Day 2022, which is commemorated every March 21. This year’s theme is “Forests and Sustainable Production and Consumption.”

As quoted from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) website of the United Nations, sustainable forest management is one of the keys to dealing with climate change.

Forests also play an important role in addressing poverty issues and meeting the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Professor Herry Purnomo of the Faculty of Forestry at Bogor Agricultural University opined that public contribution was necessary to encourage sustainable forest management.

One effort that the public can make to contribute to the cause is to use certified forestry products.

The professor deemed it important since by buying certified products, the entrepreneur or forest manager would strive to meet such demands, thereby following the regulations of sustainable forest management.

Some of the certificates for sustainable forest production are the Timber Legality Verification System, or SVLK, issued by the government. SVLK aims to ensure that wood products and their raw materials are obtained from legal sources.

There are also several other certifications, such as global-scope ecolabels issued by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Some products with certifications that can be used by the community were furniture and paper, he pointed out.

To encourage the public to use forest products from sustainable sources, it is necessary to promote the behavior on a national or regional scale. People could start by using certified forestry products in government buildings.

He also called for consistency in the environmental recovery efforts that had been successfully brought up by Indonesia, using the momentum, such as the Indonesian G20 Presidency.

He expected that annually, efforts would be made consistently to decrease deforestation and increase reforestation.

Indonesia currently leads in terms of reducing deforestation, and the global community is mostly focused on various efforts being undertaken in the country.

By consistently pushing for a sustainable system and encouraging environmental recovery, Indonesia can lead by setting an example, backed up by the leadership of the G20 2022, he concluded.

COPYRIGHT © ANTARA 2022

Link: https://en.antaranews.com/news/220985/sustainable-forests-for-combating-climate-change

ASEAN Hotspots INDONESIA RFMRC-SEA

16 Hotspots of Possible Forest Fires Detected in East Kalimantan

Translator: Antara | Editor: Petir Garda Bhwana
28 February 2022 10:47 WIB

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) detected 16 hotspots indicating forest fires in five districts in East Kalimantan Province.

“A total of 16 hotspots are detected today starting at 1 a.m. until 4 p.m. WITA (Central Indonesian Standard Time) and we have immediately conveyed (the information) to the respective districts,” Iwan Munandar, forecaster at the Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman (SAMS) Sepinggan Meteorology Station, said on Saturday.

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INDONESIA RFMRC-SEA

Indonesia’s new epicenter of forest fires shifts away from Sumatra and Borneo

by Hans Nicholas Jong on 29 December 2021

JAKARTA — Indonesia’s land and forest fires burned a greater area this year than in 2020, with most of the fires occurring in West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara, two provinces that were until recently not major sites of burning.

As of the end of November, fires had burned 353,222 hectares (872,831 acres) of land, an area twice the size of London. This is up nearly 16% from the 296,942 hectares (733,759 acres) burned during the whole of 2020, according to official data from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

The largest increase in fires occurred in the provinces of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), which until a few years ago accounted for only a fraction of total fires.

This year, fires in NTB burned 100,908 hectares (249,349 acres), nearly a third of the national total, and more than triple the area burned in the province last year. In NTT, the figure was higher, at 137,297 hectares (339,268 acres) were burned, up nearly 20% from the 2020 figure.

This makes NTB and NTT the top two provinces in terms of size of fires for two years in a row. Together, fires in the two provinces accounted for two-thirds of the total burned area in Indonesia this year; in 2020, the two provinces were home to half of the total burned area.

In 2019, which saw a particularly bad episode of fires fanned by an El Niño system bringing drier-than-usual weather conditions, the worst-hit regions were the Bornean provinces of Central Kalimantan, with 134,227 hectares (331,682 acres) burned, and West Kalimantan, at 127,462 hectares (314,965 acres).

Among the areas burned by the fires this year was part of an island within NTT’s Komodo National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to around 2,800 Komodo dragons (Varanus komodoensis).

Raffles B. Panjaitan, a fire expert working as an adviser to the minister of environment and forestry, said the scale of the burning in NTT and NTB was unprecedented.

“In the past two years, the fires in NTT and NTB increased to more than 100,000 hectares each,” he said at an event in Jakarta on Dec. 23. “Before that, it was less than 50,000 hectares each.”

Dry spells and scrubland

Raffles said fires in the two provinces had received less attention than those in the perennial hotspots of Sumatra and Borneo, where slash-and-burn practices have routinely stoked massive blazes whose toxic haze has drifted as far as neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.

“Maybe we need to see [what’s happening in NTB and NTT] because until now, there’s no one controlling [the fires there],” he said. “There’s no firefighter brigades directly in charge.”

Bambang Hero Saharjo, a leading expert on forest fires from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), said fires in NTB and NTT are not a new phenomenon, although the scale this time around is. The burning, typically of scrubland, isn’t as intense as in Sumatra and Borneo, which have vast areas of carbon-rich peat, he added.

NTB and NTT, Indonesia’s southernmost provinces, are also the country’s driest. They experience less rainfall than the country’s western region, and often go through dry spells lasting more than 60 days. In 2017, NTT didn’t see rain for more than 100 days; the district of East Sumba in NTT suffered from 249 days without rain in 2019.

And when fires to do break out there, the hilly terrain makes it difficult for firefighters to reach burning areas, Bambang said.

“The areas burned are not productive lands, and they are hard to reach [for firefighters],” he told Mongabay. “And the [firefighting] facilities are not optimum yet. Therefore, fire mitigation efforts are not optimum yet.”

More funding needed to fight fires

With the scale of fires increasing in NTB and NTT, Bambang called for greater efforts to mitigate burning in the two provinces.

“The more land that’s burned, the higher the emissions,” he said. “Therefore, it’s only appropriate for stakeholders to pay attention to these two provinces.”

He called on local governments to boost the capacity of the firefighting brigades and to replace the easily combustible scrub with more fire-resistant crops. “Lastly, law enforcement against the perpetrators of land and forest fires needs to be intensified,” Bambang said.

He also called for increased funding from the central government for firefighting and fire prevention efforts.

Raffles said the forestry ministry’s budget for fire mitigation had been slashed in the past two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The budget … has been miniscule,” he said. “It’s 38 billion rupiah [$2.67 million]. In the past, it used to be 100 billion rupiah [$7 billion] and thus the coordination [for firefighting] at the local level was stronger.”

Raffles said he hoped there would be a budget increase for 2022, warning that “there’s no way [firefighting efforts] can be mobilized in the field if there’s no budget.”

Bambang agreed that fires could get worse without a budget increase to fight them.

“In my opinion, if future fire mitigation efforts are not much different from 2021, then there won’t be a significant decrease in fires, especially with a budget for fire mitigation that’s increasingly reduced because it’s used for the COVID-19 pandemic instead,” he said. “If there’s no budget, or limited budget, then it will hamper fire mitigation efforts. The implication is uncontrollable fires.”

Raffles said the ministry wanted to avoid such a scenario, given that forest fires in Indonesia tend to come under global scrutiny.

Link: https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/indonesias-new-epicenter-of-forest-fires-shifts-away-from-sumatra-and-borneo/

INDONESIA RFMRC-SEA

Indonesian President Joko warns of forest fires as hot spots detected

Published: February 22, 2021

JAKARTA (REUTERS) – Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Monday (Feb 22) that the local authorities should get prepared for potential forest fires later this year as hot spots have been detected on the island of Sumatra.

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ASEAN Environment Forest Fire Forestry INDONESIA RFMRC-SEA

Commentary: Little smoke this haze season – but fires rage on in Indonesia

Kiki Taufik is Global Head of Greenpeace Southeast Asia’s forest campaign | November 15th, 2020

Much of the destruction to Indonesia’s forests and peatlands have taken place behind the veil of COVID-19 restrictions, says Greenpeace’s Kiki Taufik.

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Forest Fire INDONESIA RFMRC-SEA SOUTHEAST ASIA

Fewer forest fires, hot spots likely this year due to wetter weather, Covid-19 curbs: Indonesia’s disaster management chief

By: Linda Yulisman Indonesia Correspondent | Published AUG 13, 2020

JAKARTA – Indonesia will likely have fewer land and forest fires this year because the dry season will be wetter in most parts of the country compared with last year, the head of Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) said on Thursday (Aug 13).

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Category: INDONESIA

Rainforests and Peatlands Fires Center of Excellence

Bogor – West Java , 9 July 2022
Author: Bambang Hero Saharjo