Pekanbaru, Riau (Antarariau.com) - Riau Governor Arsyadjuliandi Rachman has declared an emergency alert status for forest fires for a 96-day period ending April 30, 2017.
"The emergency alert status is decided after Rohul District and Dumai City declared the status first, and it is meant to take preventive steps as early as possible," the governor stated at a coordinating meeting on forest fires here, Tuesday.
He said President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) had lauded the fact that Riau was nearly free of haze arising from forest fires.
"In 2016, Riau managed to reduce the size of burnt areas by 83.2 percent, from 2.6 million hectares in 2015 to only 438 thousand hectares in 2016," he remarked.
Data gathered by the NOAA satellites indicated an 82.14 percent drop in the number of hotspots in 2016, while the Terra and Aqua satellites showed that their number reduced by 94.58 percent.
This year, the emergency alert status has been declared early to anticipate hotspots from spreading further.
The government has announced that to support the move to fight forest fires, CCTV cameras should be installed at certain locations in addition to building more blocking canals and wells coupled with conducting an ongoing public awareness campaign.
On Monday (Jan 23), the governors of Riau and other provinces in the region were invited to attend a national coordination meeting on forest fire prevention held in Jakarta.
During the meeting, President Jokowi reminded ministers and regional authorities to remain vigilant against forest fires, starting from early this year.
"It is only January, but it is already dry. Hence, do not be careless. The BMKG (the meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency) has forecast that 2017 will be drier as compared to 2016," Jokowi remarked.
The meeting was attended by Commander of the Indonesian Defense Forces General Gatot Nurmantyo; National Police Chief General Tito Karnavian; Coordinating Minister for Political, Law, and Security Affairs Wiranto; Environmental Affairs and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya; South Sumatra Governor Alex Noerdin; Jambi Governor Zumi Zola; and several other governors.
Forest and plantation fires had affected 2.089 million hectares of area and inflicted financial losses worth Rp220 trillion in 2015.
The 2015 wildfires affected commercial flights, offices, businesses, schools, and public health.
Some 504 thousand people suffered from respiratory ailments, and flora and fauna habitats were damaged, as 2.6 million hectares of forest areas were gutted by wildfires.
Riau Declares Emergency Alert Status To Anticipate Forest Fires
