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Cloud seeding designed to put out forest fires in Riau
The Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) will start weather modification in Riau on Monday through cloud seeding in an effort to extinguish forest and land fires in the province, said Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya
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he Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) will start weather modification in Riau on Monday through cloud seeding in an effort to extinguish forest and land fires in the province, said Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya.
"BPPT will begin the cloud seeding operations on Monday," Siti said on Sunday, as quoted by Antara news agency.
She explained that her ministry had chosen to use cloud seeding so as to help solve the difficulty of reaching the locations of the fires, which were mostly believed to have been sparked by slash-and-burnt practices to clear land for development projects.
She said that the government has declared an emergency alert status for the land and forest fires in Riau to invite all parties to help prevent the forest fires from spreading.
"We have made anticipatory steps and asked all sides to remain alert. Those found intentionally burning land in the fields have to be arrested," the minister said.
She also asked her apparatuses in the field to continue intensifying communications with the private sector and local government. "I am still monitoring developments in the field," she said.
Based on data in Riau's fire emergency command post (Posko), the fires have, since January this year, engulfed about 379 hectares of land, mostly in the Siak Kecil Biosphere Nature Reserve in Bukit Batu and Rupat Island. (hhr)
