“We have identified four forestry companies and four plantation companies. Their working areas are burning, and we are investigating them,” Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said at a forest and land fire control coordination meeting in Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan, on Thursday.
The KLH team is currently conducting the investigation using both formal and informal procedures.
“The burned land is the responsibility of the concession holders. I saw several burning spots on the company’s land earlier, and we will take action immediately,” he said.
He informed that once the team’s investigation is complete, his office and the South Kalimantan Regional Police will take legal action against the companies, regardless of whether the fires were intentional or accidental.
According to Nurofiq, South Kalimantan province’s forest and land fire situation is not as complex as that of Central Kalimantan and West Kalimantan, since the province’s peatland area only covers around 300 thousand hectares.
In contrast, Central Kalimantan’s peatland coverage stands at 4.9 million hectares and West Kalimantan’s at 2.1 million hectares, he said.
Therefore, compared to the two neighboring provinces, law enforcement and forest and land fire prevention measures in South Kalimantan should be implemented better, he added.
“If West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan were to burn, it would be very complicated to handle. But in 2023, South Kalimantan had the largest area burned in Indonesia,” the minister said.
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Translator: Arie Novarina
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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