Category: RFMRC-SEA

INDONESIA Regional RFMRC-SEA

Police chief in Riau fired for lackluster performance in handling forest fires

Rizal Harahap| The Jakarta Post
Pekanbaru  | Wed, January 22, 2020

 

The Riau Police have fired a local police chief for his lackluster performance in handling land and forest fires in the province’s Pelalawan regency.

Second Insp. Hindro Renhard Panjaitan was dismissed from his position as Teluk Meranti Police chief after failing to address raging forest fires in Teluk Meranti district in Pelalawan, where fires and haze have been repeatedly experienced during the dry season.

Hindro’s dismissal was an indication of the police force’s determination to ensure officers’ performance and readiness in anticipating forest fires and haze, particularly since police personnel had committed to striving to mitigate land and forest fires long before the dry season came last year, said Riau Police chief Insp. Gen. Agung Setya Imam Effendi.

“Every police officer in Riau should be prepared and serious in handling land and forest fires. In the meantime, realizing the commitment of zero land and forest fires and zero haze is the focus of the Riau Police,” Agung said on Tuesday.

Separately, Pelalawan Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. M Hasyim Risahondua said that Hindro had been replaced by Second. Insp. Dimas, who previously worked in the police’s traffic unit.

“The dismissal is proof of the commitment in our efforts to anticipate and mitigate land and forest fires, especially in areas that see forest fires and haze every year,” Hasyim said. “If one lacks seriousness, one will face the consequence of being dismissed.”

He said personnel who were serious and anticipated forest fires would be rewarded.

“The reward will be in accordance with the intensity of their work in the field. All achievements will be reported to the Riau Police chief,” he said. (gis)

Link: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/01/21/police-chief-in-riau-fired-for-lackluster-performance-in-handling-forest-fires.html

Australia Forest Fire International RFMRC-SEA

Australian Coal Company Says Bush-Fire Smoke Is Slowing Production

By Isabella Kwai | Jan. 21, 2020

 

The poor air quality is making equipment harder to operate, and some workers have had to take leave to fight fires. The irony was not lost on many in Australia.

SYDNEY, Australia — Australia’s biggest mining company, BHP, announced on Tuesday that coal output was down at one of its large mines. The reason? Smoke from the country’s ferocious wildfires — a crisis fed by climate change, which is caused in no small part by the burning of coal.

The reduced air quality in New South Wales, the country’s most populous state, has helped slow the company’s production of electricity-generating coal by 11 percent there, BHP said in a review of its midyear financial results.

“We are monitoring the situation, and if air quality continues to deteriorate, then operations could be constrained further in the second half of the year,” said the company, which ends its fiscal year on June 30.

The irony was not lost on many in Australia.

The country, which just endured its hottest and driest year on record, has been dealing for months with bush fires that have killed at least 29 people, ravaged tens of millions of acres, and left residents in its largest cities wheezing from the most polluted air in the world.

“You Can’t Make This Stuff Up!” Terry Serio, an actor and musician, said on Twitter.

“I did roll my eyes,” Bill Hare, chief executive of Climate Analytics, a policy institute, said in an interview.

The smoke, Dr. Hare said, was most likely a minor inconvenience in the supply chain for BHP, the globe’s biggest mining company. But, he added, it served as a “wake-up call” to BHP that the world needs to wean itself off coal to avert the most damaging effects of climate change.

“You can see the mood is changing in Australia,” Dr. Hare said. “Sooner or later, the companies are going to run out of social license.”

A BHP spokesman said that smoke from the bush fires had reduced visibility and made equipment harder to operate at the Mount Arthur coal site 150 miles north of Sydney.

In addition, some employees have taken leave from work to protect their properties from fires or to serve as volunteer firefighters.

While the fires have affected production, the spokesman said, the slowdown was also the result of a shift to mining higher-quality products. But even as the company investigates options to reduce its climate impact, he said, coal will remain a major part of its energy production mix.

Australia is the world’s largest exporter of coal, and the industry wields wide influence on the country’s political leaders. The country has annual coal exports worth 67 billion Australian dollars, or about $45 billion, including to major nations like China, Japan and India.

Although Australia emits only about 1.2 percent of global greenhouse gases, its economic reliance on fossil fuel extraction makes it the sixth-biggest producer of fuels that release carbon. Those emissions are expected to double by 2030, according to a 2019 report from the United Nations Environment Program.

Under Australia’s current conservative leadership, emissions have been rising, and renewable energy targets have stagnated, even as the government says it will meet its carbon reduction targets under the Paris climate agreement. Climate scientists say the targets were among the weakest of those proposed by developed nations.

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/21/business/coal-company-bhp-smoke.html

ASEAN Forest Fire RFMRC-SEA SOUTHEAST ASIA THAILAND

Khao Yai bushfires extinguished

Bangkok Post | 14 Jan 2020

NAKHON RATCHASIMA: Forest fires which have been burning in parts of Khao Yai National Park since early this month are reported to have been finally put out.

The bushfires were first reported on Jan 5 by national park officials in Khao Siad-a, Khao Ang Hin and Khao Nok Yung forest reserves near Ban Nong Yang in tambon Phayayen of Pak Chong district. They were believed to have started about five days previously.

Crews from several stations in the national park were mobilised to combat the blazes.

The last flames were extinguished about noon on Monday, according to a local media report.

An investigation is underway into the cause of the fires.

Link: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1835439/khao-yai-bushfires-extinguished

ASEAN Malaysia RFMRC-SEA SOUTHEAST ASIA

State governments, local authorities, land owners told to prevent forest fire

Malaymail | Tuesday, 14 Jan 2020

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 — State governments, local authorities and land owners are advised to take appropriate measures to prevent forest fire.

Water, Land and Natural Resources Ministry (KATS), in a statement, said they should also take steps to prevent irresponsible quarters from trespassing into their property, such as landfills, forest areas, plantations, farms, as well as agriculture and industrial areas to carry out open burning.

“Due to the dry weather condition that is expected in the peninsula, all quarters are also advised not to carry out open burning or to allow their land or premises to be encroached upon resulting in open burning accidentally or for a certain reason,” it said.

It said the ministry, through the Peninsular Malaysia Forestry Department, is always aware of forest fires, especially if they occurred in the Permanent Forest Reserve area.

Several preventive and control measures against forest fire in the peninsula have been taken, including with the collaboration of the Malaysian Space Agency (MySA) and the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MET Malaysia) to obtain updates on hot spot and fire risk areas.

The Forestry Department is also working with the Department of Minerals and Geoscience to build tube wells and “check dams” in areas with risks of catching forest fire.

To date, 85 tubes have been built in the peninsula, it said, adding that monitoring towers were also built in areas with potential to catch forest fire and fire-fighting equipment ready for use in forest fire fighting operations.

According to KATS, the forest fire in Australia should make all quarters realise the need to take appropriate action in improving environmental protection and addressing the growing threats to the ecosystem due to climate change.

Among the impact of forest fires on the environment are destruction to natural habitat, haze phenomena, health problems and loss of the forest biological diversity, it said. — Bernama

Link: https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/01/14/state-governments-local-authorities-land-owners-told-to-prevent-forest-fire/1828000

Australia Forest Fire Global International RFMRC-SEA

Australia fires: NSW towns cut off by bushfire as Queensland residents told to leave

Australian Associated Press |

Fire north of Batemans Bay on the New South Wales south coast doubles in size, burning through more than 11,560 hectares
• ‘Absolutely suffocating’: how are you affected by smoke haze from Australia’s bushfires?

 

Residents face a nervous wait on Monday night as gusty, strong winds whip-up a blaze in the New South Wales Shoalhaven area which remains at emergency warning level.

The fire north of Batemans Bay has burnt through more than 16,000 hectares and was spreading quickly in a north-easterly direction towards coastal communities.

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Brazil climate change INDONESIA International RFMRC-SEA

Forest Fire Emissions From Indonesia Worse Than Amazon, EU Says

By

Fires that destroyed Indonesian rainforests pumped out more carbon dioxide than the blazes in the Amazon this year, according to the European Union’s atmosphere observation program.

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Activities RFMRC-SEA Global INDONESIA RFMRC-SEA

Prof. Dr. Ir. H. Bambang Hero Saharjo, Bogor Agricultural University, is the foremost expert on illegal and destructive forest and land fires in Indonesia, and the winner of the 2019 Maddox Prize

12 November 2019

Maddox Prize 2019

Bambang Hero Saharjo, who is the Indonesian lead expert witness on environmentally catastrophic peatland fires has been awarded the 2019 John Maddox Prize for his courage and integrity in standing up for sound science in the face of harassment, intimidation, and law suits.

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Malaysia RFMRC-SEA SOUTHEAST ASIA

Nearly 1,500 cases of open burning in Malaysia during haze season, says deputy minister

BY AZRIL ANNUAR | 11 Nov 2019

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 — Malaysia saw nearly 1,500 cases of open burning and forest fires during the haze season in August and September this year.

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CAMBODIA RFMRC-SEA VIETNAM

Cambodia, Vietnam to hold joint disaster rescue exercises

| 31 October 2019

 

The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) and the People’s Army of Vietnam will hold joint disaster rescue exercises in further collaborations to “maintain peace, order and stability in the neighbouring countries”.

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Environment Forest Fire International RFMRC-SEA

South America forest fires could disrupt rainfall in region’s farm belt: experts

Monica Machicao | October 9, 2019
SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia (Reuters) – Forest fires that swept across Bolivia and Brazil this year could disrupt rainfall distribution across South America’s grains-and-beef producing regions in unpredictable ways for years to come, a scientist and meteorologist said

Recent rains in both countries have helped put out the wildfires, which were likely started by farmers and ranchers using slash-and-burn agricultural methods.

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