The Fire Free Alliance (FFA), a group consisting of forestry and agriculture companies and civil society groups, said on Wednesday it had successfully reduced fires by 50 to 90 percent during the 2015-2016 period
he Fire Free Alliance (FFA), a group consisting of forestry and agriculture companies and civil society groups, said on Wednesday it had successfully reduced fires by 50 to 90 percent during the 2015-2016 period.
Established in February last year, the FFA focuses on fire prevention through community engagement. The members of the group include APRIL, Asian Agri and Musim Mas.
Wilmar, a group member, said it had educated communities in 61 villages across South Sumatra and Central Kalimantan and had trained 15 firefighters in each village and equipped them with a fire truck.
“We are definitely better prepared now,” said Wilmar plantations head Gurcharan Singh during an event to review the program.
“The government encourages the private sector to participate in preventing forest fires,” said Prabianto Mukti Wibowo, an official from the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister.
Prabianto also mentioned that land and forest fires had become an annual man-made disaster for the last 18 years and occurred at the same locations in seven provinces covering 731 villages.
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