#planetonfire

In the past few days the world’s eyes, and those of G7 leaders, have been on the Amazon fires – destroying one of the richest areas in the world for biodiversity and storing carbon. But fires are raging in other parts of the world, including in my home country of Indonesia. These fires burn away the peatlands, destroying the habitat for wildlife and releasing huge stores of carbon into the atmosphere.

It has been 2 months since the peatland fires in Palangka Raya has occurred. Firefighters, the Fire Concern Society (Masyarakat Peduli Api) and water bomb helicopters were deployed to extinguish the flames and wet the peatlands, but the fire continues to spread. Residents are forced to breathe smoke in the morning before starting activities.

This incident considered new to me. In October 2018, I moved to Palangka Raya to work in an NGO and involved in peatlands restoration and research activities. Doing field trips in peatlands opens my eyes about the fires in peatlands area. I grow up in Jakarta, where the pollution is reaching a high severity. By comparing the causes of air pollution in these two provinces, I can say that Indonesia is urgent to tackle this problem

Saturday, August 2, 2019, I visited the Tumbang Nusa area to conduct a trial of a fuel sampling method. This area is adjacent to the peat fire hotspots. The smoke is getting thicker because of the heavy wind and the fire is expanding to other areas. Helicopters and fire trucks stand by to monitor peat fires, and the community builds simple extinguishers on peatlands to wet burning land. Palangka Raya residents worry that the 2015 fire incident will reoccur.

Four years ago, the people of Central Kalimantan felt the greatest impact of peat fires. Smoke covered the lights of the street and shortened the driver's visibility. People were reluctant to leave the house. They closed the doors and windows of the house, blocking the dangerous air from entering the room. If they want to leave the house, residents must cover their nose with a cloth or special mask. People felt depressed because they didn’t see the sunlight and breathe fresh air. They were worried that their children will catch ARI at an early age since the Air Pollutant Index (API) in Central Kalimantan exceeded 2000, according to the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency.

This news was spread in the international media. The world community considers Indonesia, again, failed to prevent forest fires. In 2016, the President of Indonesia formed the Peat Restoration Agency (BRG) and established a 3R (Rewetting, Revegetation, and Revitalization) program to mitigate the risk peat fires and save peat forests from deforestation. Researchers are trying to develop a Fire Danger Rating System. NGOs have invited the community to closely monitor peatlands and raise awareness about the dangers of damaging the environment.

However, with the July 2019 forest fires, is the 3R program sustainable enough? Does the fire-prone warning not make the public aware and try to prevent fires? Or is this caused by the weakness of Indonesian law against arsonists? Whatever it is, we cannot just blame one party and we need to work together to prevent peatland fires reappears. Including national, international leaders and stakeholders.

The world leaders at the G7 meeting managed to find a tiny $20million for the Amazon fires (which Brazil has anyway rejected). We demand that our world leaders increase funding to protect and restore forests around the world from fires and other threats. The main topic of conversation in France for the G7 meeting was trade – world leaders also need to make sure that trade deals between countries protect, instead of destroying, the environment. Young people around the world, from Brazil to Indonesia, want to see forests protected.

Indonesia

Dalam beberapa hari terakhir mata dunia, dan mata para pemimpin G7, telah berada di kebakaran Amazon - menghancurkan salah satu daerah terkaya di dunia untuk keanekaragaman hayati dan menyimpan karbon. Tetapi api berkobar di bagian lain dunia, termasuk di negara asal saya, Indonesia. Kebakaran ini membakar habis lahan gambut, menghancurkan habitat satwa liar dan melepaskan simpanan karbon yang sangat besar ke atmosfer.

Sudah dua bulan kebakaran lahan gambut di Palangka Raya terjadi. Pemadam kebakaran, Masyarakat Peduli Api (MPA) dan helikopter pembawa bom air dikerahkan untuk memadamkan si jago merah, namun api tetap merambat dan menyebar. Warga terpaksa harus menghirup asap pada pagi hari sebelum memulai aktivitas.

Kejadian ini dianggap baru bagi saya. Pada Oktober 2018, saya pindah ke Palangka Raya untuk bekerja di sebuah LSM dan terlibat dalam kegiatan restorasi dan penelitian lahan gambut. Melakukan kunjungan lapangan di lahan gambut membuka pikiran saya tentang kebakaran di lahan gambut. Saya besar di Jakarta, ibu kota Indonesia yang memiliki polusi terburuk.

Sabtu, 2 Agustus 2019, saya berkunjung ke area Tumbang Nusa untuk melalukan trial metode pengambilan sampel bahan bakar di lokasi dekat kebakaran. Daerah ini berdekatan dengan titik api kebakaran gambut. Asap semakin tebal karena terbawa kencangnya angin dan api semakin menyebar ke area lain. Helikopter dan truk pemadam kebakaran bersiaga untuk me-monitoring kebakaran gambut, masyarakat membuat alat pemadam sederhana di lahan gambut untuk membasahkan tanah yang terbakar. Warga Palangka Raya khawatir kejadian kebakaran 2015 kembali terulang.

Empat tahun yang lalu, masyarakat Kalimantan Tengah merasakan dampak kebakaran gambut terhebat. Asap menutupi terangnya lampu jalan dan memendekan jarak pandang pengemudi. Masyarakat enggan keluar rumah. Mereka menutup pintu dan jendela rumah, menghalangi masuknya udara berbahaya ke dalam ruangan. Jika ingin keluar rumah pun, warga harus menutupi hidung dengan kain atau masker khusus. Masyarakat merasa depresi karena tidak melihat sinar matahari, tidak menghirup udara segar, serta khawatir anak-anak mereka terjangkit ISPA di usia dini.

Berita ini tersebar di media internasional. Masyarakat dunia menganggap Indonesia kembali gagal mencegah kebakaran hutan. Di tahun yang sama, Presiden Indonesia telah membentuk Badar Restorasi Gambut (BRG) dan membuat program 3R (Rewetting, Revegetation dan Revitalization) untuk meminimalisir kebakaran gambut serta menyelamatkan hutan gambut dari deforestasi. Para peneliti berusaha mengembangkan model peringatan bahaya kebakaran (Fire Danger Rating System). Pihak NGO telah mengajak masyarakat untuk mengawasi lahan gambut dengan ketat dan memberi penyadartahuan tentang bahayanya merusak lingkungan.

Namun, dengan terjadinya kebakaran hutan Juli 2019, apakah program 3R sudah cukup berjangka panjang? Apakah peringatan rawan kebakaran belum menyadarkan masyarakat untuk waspada dan berusaha mencegah kebakaran? atau apakah ini dikarenakan oleh lemahnya hukum Indonesia terhadap pelaku pembakaran? Apapun itu, kita tidak boleh hanya menyalahkan satu pihak dan kembali bekerjasama mencegah kebakaran lahan gambut terjadi kembali.

I’m glad you’re liking what’s been done so far and keep up. I want to get through the primary Storybrooke character graphics before I start posting the core Enchanted Forest graphics.