Indonesian Fires Research Articles

EVALUASI KEBERLANJUTAN PROGRAM PENGEMBANGAN KAPASITAS SDM PENGENDALIAN KARHUTLA DENGAN METODE RAPFIRE

Forest and land fires in Indonesia are mostly caused by human factors, therefore human resources are an important element that needs to be considered in the prevention and control of forest and land fires. One of the important efforts in anticipating the ongoing recurrence of forest and land fires in Indonesia is by preparing human resources who have the capacity to control the forest and land fires in the field. Several human resource capacity building programs to control forest and land fires have been developed in Indonesia, but are considered not to have played a significant role in controlling forest and land fires in Indonesia. This study aims to evaluate the sustainability of the human resources capacity development program that has been running so far, by building and implementing the Rapfire method through a multidimensional scaling approach. The results of the study show that the forestry human resource capacity development program with community participation tends to have a low level of sustainability, therefore it needs to receive development priorities. The study also found that the main leverage factors that influence the level of sustainability are in the input dimension, including the recruitment system, program management institutions, and budgeting systems. Leverage factors are important attributes that need to be considered and get policy priorities in order to maintain or improve the sustainability status of the human resources capacity development program for forest and land fires control in Indonesia

Assessing the health impacts of peatland fires: a case study for Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

The conversion of Indonesian tropical peatlands has been associated with the recurring problems of peatland fires and smoke affecting humans and the environment. Yet, the local government and public in the affected areas have paid little attention to the impacts and costs of the poor air quality on human health. This study aims to analyse the long-term health impacts of the peat smoke exposure to the local populations. We applied the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model to determine the smoke dispersion and the associated PM2.5 concentrations of the resulted plumes from the fire hotspots in the deep and shallow peatlands in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, that occurred during a 5-year period (2011–2015). We subsequently quantified the long-term health impacts of PM2.5 on the local people down to the village level based on the human health risk assessment approach. Our study shows that the average increase in the annual mean PM2.5 concentration due to peatland fires in Central Kalimantan was 26 μg/m3 which is more than twice the recommended value of the World Health Organisation Air Quality Guidelines. This increase in PM2.5 leads to increased occurrence of a range of air pollution–related diseases and premature mortality. The number of premature mortality cases can be estimated at 648 cases per year (26 mortality cases per 100,000 population) among others due to chronic respiratory, cardiovascular and lung cancer. Our results shed further light on the long-term health impacts of peatland fires in Indonesia and the importance of sustainable peatland management.

Short Communication: Land cover changes from 2005 to 2015 in Mantangai area of Dayak Ngaju, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract. Saharjo BH, Hadiwijoyo E. 2019. Short Communication: Land cover changes from 2005 to 2015 in Mantangai area of Dayak Ngaju, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 20: 2596-2602. Forest and land fires in Indonesia are well recognized, directly or indirectly, as the main contributors to deforestation and greenhouse gas emission related to the global climate change. Usually, local peoples are blamed for those fires especially when negative impact occurred. Fortunately, not all of the local peoples do the same thing as it is shown by Dayak Ngaju in Block A of ex-Mega Rice Project (Ex-MRP) Project area located in Mantangai sub-district Kapuas district, Central Kalimantan Province, Indonesia, where this research was conducted. The objective of this study was to know land the cover changes related to the use of fire for land preparation, and how the Dayak Ngaju people implement their knowledge and experience in the field. This objective was achieved by analyzing satellite images of Landsat 7 and 8 for a period of time starting from 2005 to 2015. Results of the research showed that the local people started clearing the land with fire at the end of September (dry season) or early October (the rainy season) yearly, as it could be seen from the changes of the land cover from secondary swamp forest into swamp shrub and from secondary swamp forest into fields. Meanwhile, at the protected area where peat was dominant, land cover change occurred due to land rights conflicts, and not to the use of fire for land preparation using fire by Dayak Ngaju communities, because they found that the results were not good and the planted rice would die three months after planting..

Analysis of factors affecting the area of forest and land fires in Indonesia uses spatial regression Geoda and SaTScan

This study discusses the factors that influence the extent of forest and land fires in Indonesia that relate several other factors such as rain, fire events, and wind speed which were the events during 2015. Forest fires are one of the environmental and forest problems that is a local and global concern. Countermeasures have been carried out for a long time but are relatively low. By looking for the best regression model with a significance level of 0.05 or 95% using the Spatial Autoregressive Model (SAR) method, the coefficient of determination of 25.00% is obtained which can be obtained by the research regression model and leaves 75.00% needed by other variables that are variables changed

Numerical Analysis using Empirical Orthogonal Function Based on Multivariate Singular Value Decomposition on Indonesian Forest Fire Signal

Over the past years, fires have burn Indonesian forest annually. The strength of the fire and many of fire points is vary each year. In 1997 there was 9.75 million ha forest burned in one year with 206,6 million ton of carbon emissions. In 2015 there was 2.089 million ha forest and 805 million tons carbon emissions. Both years involved the biggest incidences of burned forest in Indonesia. The purpose of this research is to analyze the pattern of burned forest in Indonesia and to analyze linkages of variables that affect it. Datasets that used in this research is monthly data from 1997 until 2016 Global Fires Emissions Database (GFED) with variable burned area, GFEDs with variable carbon emissions, and Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS). Using Singular Value Decomposition and Empirical Orthogonal Function analysis, for the overlapping period detected that there is annual signal that dominate the incidences of fires in Indonesia, especially in Riau, Palembang, South Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan. There was 4 annual signal that can explain 72% of fires incidences in Indonesia in 1997-2016. In Riau there is another signal that have 6 months period caused by 6 months rainfall period.

Multivariate analysis on Indonesian forest fire using combined empirical orthogonal function and covariance matrices

Forest and land fires are annual events that occur very frequently during the dry season in several regions in Indonesia. One of the main triggers is low rainfall and extreme anomalies in those regions. The objective of the research was to find the correlation between rainfall and Forest fire based on Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) rainfall data and Global Fire Emission Database (GFED) forest fire data. Both of these data are big data, this research utilized singular value decomposition to generate information on the correlation of fire patterns and rainfall spatially and temporally. Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) based on Singular value decomposition (SVD) was used to reduce large data, without removing main information from the data. SVD approach in this research was conducted using the covariance matrix and combined EOF. EOF mode contribution is able to explain the joint variability of the data set to the phenomenon of fire and its relation to rainfall in Indonesia. Spatial patterns in this analysis show that Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Papua emerged as endemic areas for fires in 1998, 2002, 2006, 2009 and 2015. The year of 2004 and 2014 was also recorded as years of severe forest and land fires but was relatively not as severe as mentioned earlier. The temporal pattern shows that the characteristics of Forest fire in Indonesia are dominant in the final months of the year, from June to October.

Incentivizing compliance: Evaluating the effectiveness of targeted village incentives for reducing burning in Indonesia

Periodic peat and forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan result in haze that blankets Indonesia and neighboring countries, with effects on human health, the environment and the economy. Although the prevailing approach for preventing and reducing the incidence of fire in Indonesia is regulatory, village-level incentive schemes have been trialed by agribusinesses and pulp and paper companies to prevent burning. In this article, we review one integrated incentive program for villages launched by a pulp and paper company in Riau, Sumatra, in 2015. As part of the study, we surveyed six of the villages that participated in the first year of the program as well as six non-program villages, complemented by spatial analyses of hotspots and burn scars. Our analyses show a declining pattern of burning in the years prior and including 2015, followed by the almost total cessation of burning in the years after. During 2015, a severe El Niño event, the program villages experienced 40% fewer fires, while in non-program villages, there were 23% more fires. The main reason cited by the villages was the increased awareness of the regulations in force prior to the program. The information about these laws and regulations had been disseminated to program villages, as well as some of the adjacent non-program villages, prior to the commencement of the incentive program. The transition to non-burning livelihoods was enabled by ongoing changes in the landscape to permanent agricultural crops such as oil palm and rubber, as well as non-farming livelihoods. Although the benefits of the program were valued at the community level, the incentives appeared to function as a pathway for incentivizing compliance with prevailing regulations rather than inducing voluntary behaviors. We argue that the current trend for strict environmental regulations undermines the potential for using voluntary incentives. Consequently, we suggest that future incentive schemes should focus on providing agricultural support to smallholders to enable them to adapt to the strict requirements of the environmental regulations in force.

Tanggung Jawab Perusahaan Multinasional dalam Kebakaran Hutan di Indonesia

Indonesia as a country that exports smoke also causes losses in neighboring countries and the impact of the haze has an impact on the economy, tourism and health in surrounding countries. Based on this, in this paper describes the problem identification as follows first, what is the position of multinational companies according to the Republic of Indonesia Law Number 40 of 2007 concerning Limited Liability Companies. Second, what is the form of responsibility of multinational companies in terms of forest fires in Indonesia in the perspective of international environmental law. The method used in this study is a normative juridical method that is descriptive. The case of forest fires in Indonesia carried out by multinational companies can be burdened with responsibility in accordance with the conditions in which the company operates. This is because the internal law of Bleum is able to directly impose legal responsibility on corporations and state authority is still needed to sanction the law as an intermediary. International law has still not moved from the use of the classical negocentric theory. Criminal and administrative provisions can be used in prosecuting a corporation. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26905/idjch.v10i1.2808.

Early Life Exposure to Air Pollution, Cognitive Development, and Labor Market Outcome

In this paper, I study the impact of early life exposure to air pollution caused by the 1997 Indonesian forest fires on cognitive ability, an important determinant of success in the labor market. To isolate the effect of pollution exposure, I use a difference-in-differences approach where exposure to pollution is determined by timing and region of birth. The results suggest that pollution lowered cognitive test score at age 8–9 years by 6 percent. I also estimate how this might translate into lost earnings on a different but comparable sample. The estimates suggest that natural disasters can reduce earnings by 5 to 8 percent by hampering cognitive ability. Lost earnings due to interrupted cognitive development could be an additional cost of exposure to air pollution.

Measuring the Health Impact of Natural Disasters – The Attribution Challenge Facing the Medical Community

Introduction:Published reports on health impacts from natural disasters causing injuries, poisonings, infectious disease, chronic illness, and NCDs continue to grow exponentially. Simultaneously, calls for the improvement in scientific rigor to improve causal links, strength of association, and efficacy of interventions are increasing. At the heart of this challenge is demonstrating mortality and morbidity risk across a time continuum, where the health effect is not detected for weeks, months, or years after the disaster event. In some circumstances, the presence and acuity of illness are not apparent until after an insidious or cumulative point has been reached. Notwithstanding medical observations or disaster-attributed morality classification matrices being available for 20 years, natural disaster mortality continues to be measured narrowly, on those confirmed dead (acute physical trauma, drowning, poisoning, or missing). There has been little effort to expand mortality assessment beyond this historical lens. For example, it fails to consider suicide in drought and was not redefined when the Indonesian fires caused the highest mortality in 2015. Tens of thousands of lives were lost from smoke exposure.Aim:This study sought to test the progress of two decades of published medical and scientific literature on natural disaster mortality reporting.Methods:A retrospective analysis of natural disaster impact reports for the past ten years was performed on three of the world’s largest disaster databases, including CRED, Sigma, and ADRC.Discussion:WADEM members must commence a strategic process to expand the recognition of health impacts from natural disasters. Global and domestic advocacy is required for building evidence through improved systematic collection of data and especially reporting patient continuum of care as a minimum standard. Without this leadership, disaster health impacts will continue to be underestimated and emergency health program responses and financial resources will fall short in protecting those most at risk.

Tantangan Kelembagaan Pengendalian Kebakaran Hutan dan Lahan pada Tingkat Tapak

Continuous forest and land fires in Indonesia require multi-stakeholder concerns. Further, focal point should be on the grass root actors, since they are the closest to the fires, in term of location; the understand the most about the site situations, and could be the first responders to the fire events. Those actors, also could play a role as, either protagonists or antagonists, in the fire management program, depend on their situations. Based on the above narration, this research aimed to understand roles and challenges faced by those actors at the site level. This research was conducted in August-December 2017 in three villages, in Siak District, Riau is Village Penyengat, Sungai Rawa, and Rawa Mekar Jaya. The choice of location was based on comparable different fire frequencies occured among those three villages respectively the most, moderately, and the least frequent. The method utilized in this research was actor analysis. The data were collected from primary (interviews) and secondary sources (literatures). The analysis results showed that there were too many key players, influencing actors with negative roles, and actors with improper roles in the fire management activities. De-concentrating the influences of the Central Government and MoEF, as well as derivative legislations to legalize the roles of both the National Agency for Disaster Countermeasures (NADC-BNPB) and Army, to be involved in the fire management activities are also needed to solve the problems.

The many faces of strict liability in Indonesia's wildfire litigation

Since 2013, the Indonesian Ministry for the Environment and Forestry has sued several timber and oil palm plantations for fires that have occurred within concession areas. These government lawsuits are important, not just for reducing the number of fires in Indonesia, but also for galvanizing a significant development of the nation's law of civil liability for environmental damage. In these cases, the government has attempted to ground its suits in two types of liability, namely the liability for an unlawful act and strict liability. The article observes some inaccurate interpretations of strict liability in wildfire litigation, where the liability rule is considered as part of the liability rule for an unlawful act, and as a liability rule resulting from the application of the precautionary principle in a fault‐based liability rule. The application of strict liability starts with the identification of whether a defendant's activity can be considered an abnormally dangerous activity. The article finds that activities related to the clearing and drainage of peatlands are abnormally dangerous because they significantly increase the risk of fires and constitute an unnatural use of land. It concludes that the application of strict liability to wildfires is defendable in so far it can be proven that the defendant has previously conducted the clearing and drainage of peatlands.

Self-Ignition Temperature of Peat

Neighboring countries that have experienced major impact from forest and land fires in Indonesia, are concerned about the effects of smoke and ash on the well-being and health of the inhabitants of those country. These fires have also significantly raised the temperature of the earth’s surface. Peat is a source of water and vegetation which is quite abundant in the two main islands of Indonesia, namely Kalimantan and Sumatra. This study was conducted to calculate the temperature at which the peat will ignite. Several samples taken from four different depths underground in peat soil areas were tested using the Thermogravimetry Analyzer.

The effect of community and company participation and implementation of good forest fire governance on the forest fire policy in Indonesia

Purpose The purpose of this research is to analyze the effect of community and company participation on corporate governance and forest fire prevention in the forest zone, which has a high level of vulnerability to forest fires, in Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach The survey method in this research used a quantitative approach with the survey method, with the sample being forest areas having a high level of vulnerability to forest fires in Indonesia. This study used a questionnaire instrument and was conducted from January to March 2017. The research population was 105 villages located in forest areas in six major provinces known to endure the largest forest fires in Indonesia. From a total population of 258 villages, 52 were selected for this study. The proportional random sampling area technique was used. The data analysis methods selected in this research were descriptive analysis and inferential statistical analysis using the partial least squares method. Findings Community and company participation has a significant effect on the implementation of good governance. The implementation of good governance has a significant effect and community and company participation has no direct effect on the forest fire policy, but through good governance mediation, an indirect effect of community participation on the forest fire policy is seen. Originality/value No previous research has comprehensively studied the role of community and company participation and implementation of good forest fire governance on the forest fire policy.

Characterizing the 2015 Indonesia fire event using modified MODIS aerosol retrievals

Abstract. The Indonesian fire and smoke event of 2015 was an extreme episode that affected public health and caused severe economic and environmental damage. The MODIS Dark Target (DT) aerosol algorithm, developed for global applications, significantly underestimated regional aerosol optical depth (AOD) during this episode. The larger-than-global-averaged uncertainties in the DT product over this event were due to both an overly zealous set of masks that mistook heavy smoke plumes for clouds and/or inland water, and also an aerosol model developed for generic global aerosol conditions. Using Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) Version 3 sky inversions of local AERONET stations, we created a specific aerosol model for the extreme event. Thus, using this new less-absorbing aerosol model, cloud masking based on results of the MODIS cloud optical properties algorithm, and relaxed thresholds on both inland water tests and upper limits of the AOD retrieval, we created a research algorithm and applied it to 80 appropriate MODIS granules during the event. Collocating and comparing with AERONET AOD shows that the research algorithm doubles the number of MODIS retrievals greater than 1.0, while also significantly improving agreement with AERONET. The final results show that the operational DT algorithm had missed approximately 0.22 of the regional mean AOD, but as much as AOD = 3.0 for individual 0.5∘ grid boxes. This amount of missing AOD can skew the perception of the severity of the event, affect estimates of regional aerosol forcing, and alter aerosol modeling and forecasting that assimilate MODIS aerosol data products. These results will influence the future development of the global DT aerosol algorithm.

Land ownership transformation before and after forest fires in Indonesian palm oil plantation areas

ABSTRACTForest fires in Indonesia continue to pose as an alarming governmental, environmental, and societal concern. This study examines the context of land ownership transformation mainly before and after forest fires in palm oil plantation activities. The data were gathered through in-depth interviews, observation, and Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping. The majority of land transformations occurred from community property ownership to ownership by local elites, while the transformation from company to community and local elites was also found. Due to the injustice of land distribution, local communities occupy open access lands of companies’ concessions. The deliberate use of fire is a common method among smallholder to clear land for oil palm and for sold for profit as planted land. Local elites benefit from these land transformations; however, smallholders are at an economic disadvantage. We argue that forest devolution and a clear definition of community land boundaries are critical in dealing with this issue.

Averting Behavior Among Singaporeans During Indonesian Forest Fires

We estimate averting behavior in the form of increased electricity usage in Singapore during the haze caused by Indonesian forest fires. Our results indicate that increases in fire radiative power in Indonesia result in statistically significant increases in one- and two-day ahead electricity demand. Further results show that the Indonesian fires accounted for 0.5% of Singaporean electricity demand between February 2012 and August 2017 at a total cost of over $270 million. In addition, we find that the residential electricity share increases and the industrial share decreases during fire episodes, suggesting the increase in demand may be due to Singaporeans staying home and/or increasing their air conditioning use during these times. This averting behavior is persistent, not diminishing, during periods of frequent poor air quality.

Interannual Variation of Upper Tropospheric CO over the Western Pacific Linked with Indonesian Fires

We analyzed temporal variations of carbon monoxide (CO) in the upper troposphere from 30°N to 30°S observed using instruments aboard commercial airliner flights between Japan and Australia over the period 1993-2016. Here we focused on the CO variations in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) that showed a unique seasonal cycle with an increased CO around October-November every year. The seasonal CO peaks in the SH showed significant interannual variability (IAV), and are notably enhanced in strong El Niño years, especially 1997. The CO enhancements are proportionally associated with CO emissions from Indonesian fires, when compared to the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED). The IAV of the CO peak anomalies relative to the mean seasonal cycle was assessed by a statistical regression model that uses a combination of multiple climate indices and their interaction terms. We found that over 80% of the CO IAV observed in the upper troposphere could be explained by the model. The largest anomaly in 1997 showed a different CO-climate relationship than the other periods, which could be due to amplification during synchronized climate modes, or include additional influence from other factors such as human activities.

Detection of Peat Fire Risk Area Based on Impedance Model and DInSAR Approaches Using ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 Data

Forest fire in Indonesia occurs mostly in peatland area. Dry peatland areas with groundwater table (GWT) more than 40 cm from the soil surface have become degradation areas with high potentials to fire. This paper presents a new novel to detect a peat fire risk area by incorporating two methods: the impedance model and the differential interferometric SAR (DInSAR) technique which is based on the knowledge of annual subsidence rate associated with the GWT. The previous impedance model is modified in this paper by integrating the surface roughness information in the model as a part of novelty. The proposed method was then validated with ground truth data of GWT. By using an impedance model, this paper successfully detected peat fire risk area based on the backscattering coefficient simulation of dry peatland. Based on the simulation model, the average, minimum, and maximum of backscattering coefficient of dry peat are -13.97, -11.5, and -17.29 dB, respectively. The correlation coefficient between the simulated backscattering coefficient and backscattering from ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 data is 0.8 with root mean square error of 1.4. By using the DInSAR method, detection of dry peatland area was successful. The significant relationships confirmed between GWT measurement and model are 0.71 for Pair A and 0.85 for Pair B. Both methods showed that peat fire risk areas were identified successfully. The dielectric constant of the peat soil also revealed that the soil condition of the area of interest is very dry indicating the potential to peat fire risk. Employing two models, respectively, were recommended to get precision of detection analysis.

Smoke radiocarbon measurements from Indonesian fires provide evidence for burning of millennia-aged peat

In response to a strong El Niño, fires in Indonesia during September and October 2015 released a large amount of carbon dioxide and created a massive regional smoke cloud that severely degraded air quality in many urban centers across Southeast Asia. Although several lines of evidence indicate that peat burning was a dominant contributor to emissions in the region, El Niño-induced drought is also known to increase deforestation fires and agricultural waste burning in plantations. As a result, uncertainties remain with respect to partitioning emissions among different ecosystem and fire types. Here we measured the radiocarbon content (14C) of carbonaceous aerosol samples collected in Singapore from September 2014 through October 2015, with the aim of identifying the age and origin of fire-emitted fine particulate matter (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 μm). The Δ14C of fire-emitted aerosol was -76 ± 51‰, corresponding to a carbon pool of combusted organic matter with a mean turnover time of 800 ± 420 y. Our observations indicated that smoke plumes reaching Singapore originated primarily from peat burning (∼85%), and not from deforestation fires or waste burning. Atmospheric transport modeling confirmed that fires in Sumatra and Borneo were dominant contributors to elevated PM2.5 in Singapore during the fire season. The mean age of the carbonaceous aerosol, which predates the Industrial Revolution, highlights the importance of improving peatland fire management during future El Niño events for meeting climate mitigation and air quality commitments.