High Risk of Wildfires

Wildfires continue to burn on the slopes of Mount Sindoro and Mount Sumbing in Central Java and on Mount Lawu in East Java. Firefighting efforts are to be maximized on Thursday (13/09/2018) with the use of water bombers.

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

Forest fires on Mount Sumbing are seen on Wednesday evening (12/9/2018) from Kledung village, Kledung district, Temanggung regency, Central Java. Firefighting efforts continue against 500 hectares of forest fires on Mt. Sumbing and Mt. Sindoro.

TEMANGGUNG, KOMPAS – Wildfires continue to burn on the slopes of Mount Sindoro and Mount Sumbing in Central Java and on Mount Lawu in East Java. Firefighting efforts are to be maximized on Thursday (13/9/2018) with the use of water bombers. Amid these efforts, risks remain high for forest and wildfires in several areas of Java.

Cumulative data gathered from Friday (7/9) to Wednesday (12/9) morning show that fires have damaged more than 500 hectares on Mt. Sumbing and Mt. Sindoro. The fires in Gunung Lawu, Magetan regency, are moving towards the neighboring regency of Karanganyar.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) is to deploy a water bombing team. "We have been looking for two alternatives in obtaining a supply of water," said Gito Walngadi, the acting head of the Temanggung Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD).

In Semarang, BPBD Central Java head Sarwa Pramana expressed a different view on using water bombs to extinguish the fires. "It is impossible, because there are no [nearby] canals to draw water. Reservoirs and dams exist, but they are steep and it is very risky to draw water using an airplane," he said.

Monitoring by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) shows that the fire risk remains high in Java, due to strong winds and hot weather. The peak of the dry season in Java is expected to last through October.

The hottest in Makassar

BMKG monitoring through the Terra/Aqua satellite has located seven hot spots in Java with 81-100 percent accuracy. The BMKG Geohotspot application using the Himawari satellite has confirmed the hot spots in Kalikajar of Central Java’s Wonosobo regency and in Tomo of West Java’s Sumedang regency.

The risk or potential for forest and wildfires in several areas of Java is determined through the prevalence of hot weather, strong winds, long drought or lack of rainfall, dry land and the volume of wilting or drying plants. "These [conditions] raise the fire hazard into the ‘very high’ category," said Siswanto, the BMKG’s climate and air quality information head.

Hot weather was monitored in several locations. The highest temperature was recorded at a maximum 37 degrees Celsius in Makassar, South Sulawesi, and in Ciputat, South Tangerang, Banten. In Semarang, the highest recorded temperature was 36.4 degrees Celsius and in Kemayoran, 35.1 degrees Celsius.

In contrast to last year, the current hot weather is unrelated to the El Niño phenomenon. "To date, El Niño conditions are still neutral. It is projected to rise above +0.5 [from September through November], so there is a chance it will get hotter," said Siswanto.

In Jakarta, anthropology professor Yunita Triwardani Winarto at the University of Indonesia’s School of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) questioned the flexibility of government policy, specifically in connection with how farmers could understand and interpret climate information from the BMKG.

Yunita referred to a case in Sumedang regency, where she invited local farmers to respond strategically to climate change, such as through recording rainfall. All went well until it was time to submit the planting schedule they had determined according to local climate conditions: the regional agriculture agency refused to approve the schedule because it did not meet the ministry\'s production target.

Depending on rainfall and climate patterns, farmers can plant crops such as corn and soybean; planting rice was not obligatory. "A food policy response to climate conditions has not been realized at the regency, village, district and farm levels," said Yunita.

Drought is widespread in Central Java. Four dams are drying up and the water level is falling at 13 reservoirs. A clean water crisis has hit 1,163 villages in 253 districts in 21 regencies/municipalities.

West Java alert

The West Java administration has issued a drought emergency alert through October. As many as 1.1 million people lack clean water, and its agriculture sector is facing a water shortage.

Emergency and logistics head Didi Adji Siddik of BPBD West Java said the agency had provided 4.1 million liters of water to the affected areas. However, this was far below the people’s daily needs of 30 million liters.

Indramayu Farmers Group (KTNA) chairman Sutatang said that 2,000 hectares of agricultural lands risked drying out, of which 900 hectares had experienced harvest failure. The area was relatively small compared to the 116,000 hectares of agricultural land in Indramayu.

"This year\'s drought does not directly affect harvests, because vast stretches of land still receive water through direct irrigation from two nearby reservoirs. We also ask residents to plant not just rice, but also other food crops so as to break the pest cycle," he said.

In Makassar, South Sulawesi Farmers Group chairman M. Yunus said that this year\'s drought had little impact on agriculture. Farmers groups had adjusted their planting schedules and chose appropriate crop varieties according to the BMKG’s weather forecasts.

"There is drought, but its impact has not been severe because the farmers had planned their planting to anticipate it," he said.

Even though the drought-affected areas were not extensive, national rice production has still been affected. "A 50 percent reduction in production can cut farmers\' income by half. During the long dry season, the potential of attacks from fast-reproducing pests is high," said People\'s Coalition for Food Sovereignty coordinator Said Abdullah.

Said added that a strategy was necessary, and not just by readying sources of water for agriculture, but also by strengthening the farmers’ capacity to withstand drought and food scarcity.

Dry season droughts also affect other countries. The latest United Nations (UN) report released in Geneva, Switzerland, said that 275,000 people were displaced by drought in western Afghanistan and more than 2 million others were threatened by drought.

A separate UN report, "Conditions of Food and Nutrition Security in the World", said that extreme weather events were the main cause of the rise in global hunger last year. Women, infants and the elderly were among the highly vulnerable.

(DKA/EGI/NIK/AIK/ISW/DIT/WHO/GRE/ENG/RTG/AFP/Reuters/BEN)