By: Muhammad Iman)*
Wildfire… What is the first thing that appears on your mind when you hear about wildfire? Air pollution? Respiratory disorders? Or perhaps scorched forest? For myself, I imagine how such a tremendous wildfire has taken lives because of respiratory disorders caused by the smokes. The wildfire incident happened on 2015 almost took place in every region in Indonesia. This incident overwhelmed public and government.
The question for us is what causes this wildfire? Do you know what it is? If you don’t know it yet, then let me explain it to you in a simple way. The first cause of wildfire is natural factor such as climate. The wildfires mostly take place during dry season. During dry season, the El Nino air-wave that carries no water flows to Indonesia and cause dry season. Luckily, according to Climatology Deputy of BMKG, the El Nino on August 2017 is on its weak spot. This condition will remain until the end of the year and shows that the dry season relatively normal.
The second cause is human error. According to Disaster Management Agency (Badan Penanggulangan Bencana/BNPB), 90% of wildfire was caused on purposed by human. The forest was burnt on purpose to open the field, either for housing or plantation. The firing was conducted systematically on a group to gain profit, either from fund contributors or the third parties who ask the field opening. Therefore, we should be more concerned about forest burning conducted by individuals with purposes.
The government has prepared the anticipation action in case the wildfire struck again. They have been monitoring every hot spot in every region and have been preparing supporting facilities in case of wildfire. However, an active participation from public on preventing wildfire is also needed. Public participation has the biggest portion on preventing wildfire. Public awareness also needed to keep the forest off fire, especially by those who have interests on it. In addition, people who live near the woods and rely their life on it can help the officers to take a watch and patrol surround the woods, or report anything suspicious to the authority.
Public’s awareness and participation is expected to be able to prevent this disaster. We do not such disaster as happen in 2015 to be happened again, where about 260 hectare forest and fields burnt by tremendous fire. We could imagine how hard was that time, people can’t work, kids can’t go to school, many suffer respiratory diseases, and even worse some passed away of it. Although El Nino not really threaten the woods, will our own hands threaten our own forest? We won’t know. It can be us, it can be our family, or perhaps it can be our relatives that become the next victims when the fire happens. So, let’s save our forest. Let’s save our beloved one.
)* The author is CIDISS contributor
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