President: Be Ready to Prevent Forest Fire in 2016

President Jokowi and First Lady Ibu Iriana planted a tree on National Flora and Fauna Day (Hari Cinta Puspa dan Satwa Nasional), at Banjar Regency, South Kalimantan, on Thursday (26/11)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo reminded regional officials to work on sustainable prevention of forest and land fires. They should not in haste when the fires happened, moreover, this year’s El Nino lasts longer.

“I remind the officials at provinces and regencies, Military Command (Kodam), Regional Police (Polda) levels, from upperclass to lowerclass to get ready for the prevention in 2016. They must not in haste,” President Jokowi said when attending the commemoration of National Tree Planting Day, National Flora and Fauna Day, and Indonesian Tree Planting Month, which took place at the Sultan Adam Great Forest Park, Mandiangin Timur Village, Karangintan Subdistrict, Banjar Regency, South Kalimantan, on Thursday (26/11).

According to the President, Indonesia has abundant natural resources and the third largest in the world. Ironically, Indonesia is the world’s sixth largest emitter of greenhouse gases and most likely become the largest emitter in 2015 due to forest and land fires. “This is not an achievement but a warning,” President Jokowi firmly said.

The President explained that the Government will keep trying to reduce carbon emissions by 29 percent in 2030 but Indonesia also asks the developed and developing countries to have the same commitment.

“Forest fires in several regions in Indonesia is a lesson for us, despite the fires still reoccured for the past 18 years. This must be a valuable lesson for us,” the President said while mentioning carbon emissions sourced from peat land fires and the forest degradation that widely spreading become a problem, because forest and land fires damaged the ecosystems.

President Jokowi hopes, in 2016, prevention act is taken before the fires occur. Furthermore, the President also asked all parties to focus on the prevention, particularly on peat land because once the peat land burned, no matter how much water bombing planes we owned, we could not extinguish the fires.

President Jokowi also asked to conduct sustainable prevention acts involving all parties. “I remind  not to forget after the fires are extinguished, we must prepare another prevention acts, by making canal blocking,” the President said.

According to the President, forest fires in 2015 and in the previous years must become a warning. The dissemination conducted by regional governments and the apparatus must be carried out so that people will not burn the land on land clearing process. “Today, we give an example of forest plantation to the people. This is the largest event in Indonesia. The rehabilitation started from planting 10,000 trees. It will be great when the planted trees grows,” the President said.

The President recommended to focus the implementation of the reforestation on several locations to make it easier for the checking.

“I called on all parties to work together to preserve and develop our forest,” President Jokowi urged the people.

Attending the event were First Lady Ibu Iriana Joko Widodo, Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya, and Minister of State Secretary Pratikno. (DND/DID/ES) (RAS/MMB/YM/Naster)