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View all search resultsWildfires in national parks threaten biodiversity as firefighting gaps persist
Raging fires have scorched a number of national parks in Kalimantan and Sumatra in recent weeks, as volunteer firefighters find themselves overwhelmed with limited resources to control blazes that threaten an orangutan population.
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Smoke billows from a forest fire on Oct. 6in the Padang Sugihan Wildlife Reserve in Pangkalan Lampam, Ogan Komering Ilir regency, South Sumatra. Firefighters are continuing efforts to extinguish the blaze, which has been burning in the reserve since Aug. 26. (Antara/Nova Wahyudi)
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aging fires have scorched a number of national parks in Kalimantan and Sumatra in recent weeks, with fast-spreading blazes threatening an orangutan population inside a park in Central Kalimantan, where volunteer firefighters found themselves overwhelmed with limited resources.
Against the backdrop of charred Tanjung Puting National Park, the volunteers recently addressed an open letter to President Prabowo Subianto, demanding large-scale firefighting assistance for the 412,000-hectare park.
“We’ve decided to back down from the fire scenes because our capacity could not outpace the raging fires anymore,” a 29-year old volunteer, who goes by his nickname Moncos, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
The decision, he added, was made last Saturday, as the 60-member volunteer network faced persistent resource constraints and limited access to water. They asked the government to launch greater intervention to battle the blazes at the park.
Around 54,000 ha of the park, or an area nearly the size of Jakarta, have so far been burned, Moncos said, citing data from a local conservation group. The burning has reportedly reached multiple zones of the park, including a vital conservation corridor known as a “core zone”.
Peatland-rich Tanjung Puting is a key habitat for Bornean orangutans, and is often cited as having the largest population of the endangered apes in the world.
The open letter video has now gained traction online, garnering more than five million views on Instagram and sparking more pressure for Jakarta to step up its efforts in battling the fires.
