TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsIndonesia braces for wildfire, drought ahead of longer dry season
Several wildfire-prone regions in Sumatra and Kalimantan have issued fire alerts as the weather agency predicts a longer dry season starting later this month that may lead to crop failures and increase the risk of severe drought.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Blaze battles: A fireman of the Environment and Forestry Ministry’s Manggala Agni fire brigade works to extinguish a forest fire on Feb. 9 in the protected forest area of Taman Lestari in Batam, Riau Islands. A joint team of the military, police, Manggala Agni and the Batam city administration has put out five of six detected hot spots. (Antara/Teguh prihatna)
S
everal wildfire-prone regions in Sumatra and Kalimantan have issued fire alerts as the weather agency predicts the dry season starting later this month will bring even less rainfall and drier weather that can lead to crop failures and increase the risk of severe drought.
The Central Kalimantan provincial administration declared on Monday a 90-day wildfire alert, with its disaster mitigation agency strengthening surveillance and vigilance to mitigate fires in the heavily-forested province.
Similar warnings have been issued for several regencies in North Sumatra and West Kalimantan after fire hotspots were detected in the past few days.
North Sumatra's neighboring province Riau has already issued a ten-month alert in mid-February following rising temperatures and less rainfall intensity that had caused more than 1,000 hectares of area engulfed by fire since the beginning of the year as the province transitioned to the dry season.
Read also: Riau declares emergency alert for forest fires
According to the latest forecast by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), most regions in Indonesia will enter the dry season between late March and May, with its peak expected to fall in August, including in parts of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Java.
The season is expected to be longer than the normal average recorded in the last 30 years, those living in Java, Bali, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) will experience the dry season for around 10 months. Sumatra and Kalimantan, meanwhile, will see shorter dry seasons of around six and nine months, although the risk of wildfire will still likely increase due to less rainfall.
