Wildlife protection should not begin only after animals have been forced out of their habitat..Jakarta (ANTARA) - Forest and land fires in Ketapang, West Kalimantan, in August 2026 threatened not only vegetation but also forced wildlife out of its habitat.
An orangutan mother named Mama Yuni and her two offspring, Yuni and Pura, were evacuated on Aug. 21 after fires threatened their habitat and disrupted their movement routes. The three had been monitored in a community plantation area in Tanjungpura village since early 2026.
Several days later, an adult male orangutan named Sampurna was found weak in a plantation in Laman Satong village. He was suspected of suffering respiratory problems after being exposed to dense smoke from forest and land fires for several days.
The two incidents show that the impact of forest and land fires extends beyond burned vegetation. Habitat loss can drive wildlife into plantations or residential areas in search of food and shelter, increasing the potential for encounters and conflict between animals and people.
Silverius Oscar Unggul, chairman of the Indonesian Nature Rehabilitation Initiative Foundation (YIARI), said repeated fires were worsening orangutan habitat loss and pushing the animals into community plantations.
The Ketapang cases show that responding to forest and land fires cannot be purely reactive. Early-warning information needs to be translated into response priorities, particularly when fires threaten areas with high ecological value.
Habitat outside protected areas
The Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) is classified as Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The species faces continuing pressure from habitat loss and fragmentation.
In Habau Village, Tabalong District, South Kalimantan, about 3,000 hectares of potential orangutan habitat lie in areas designated for other uses outside protected areas. The periodic discovery of nests indicates that orangutans continue to use the area.
The local government and the South Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) are seeking to protect the landscape through a proposal to designate it as a preservation area.
The example in South Kalimantan shows that biodiversity protection cannot rely solely on national parks and other protected areas. Habitat outside those areas also needs to be maintained because it provides space for wildlife and helps preserve ecosystem connectivity.
Evacuation remains necessary when animals face an immediate threat, but moving them does not restore habitat that has already been damaged.
IUCN Species Survival Commission guidelines on orangutan conservation prioritize protecting animals in their natural habitat, or in situ. Translocation can be used under certain circumstances but does not replace long-term habitat protection.
Wildlife rescue therefore needs to go hand in hand with efforts to prevent habitat loss. Fires brought under control early can reduce the likelihood that animals will lose their habitat and move into human-dominated areas.
Earlier detection
Early detection should not stop at monitoring the number of hotspots. The information needs to be used to determine where and how quickly resources should be deployed.
M Rokhis Khomarudin, head of the Geoinformatics Research Center at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), said geoinformatics technology could serve as an early-warning system through weather prediction models.
Fire weather indexes and drought risks can be monitored daily to forecast fire risks before fires occur. Such climate monitoring models have been developed and operated by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency (BMKG).
Satellite technology can also detect hotspots across Indonesia each day to map potential fires, but the data cannot stop at a numerical count. The Forestry Ministry has stressed that every hotspot still needs to be followed up with field verification to determine whether it represents an actual fire.
This is where fire data needs to be linked to ecological information. When a hotspot emerges in wildlife habitat or an area of high conservation value, that information should help accelerate verification and determine response priorities.
An effective early-warning system therefore needs to answer more than whether a hotspot exists. It should also identify where it is, what is at risk and how quickly authorities need to respond.
Way Kambas National Park in Lampung shows how information and field response can work together. A fire at the Kuala Penet Resort area that began on Aug. 21 affected about 673 hectares and was handled by about 250 personnel from various agencies.
After the fire was extinguished, personnel carried out cooling operations, inspections and monitoring to prevent embers from reigniting. Wild elephants and elephants at the Elephant Conservation Center were reported safe.
The response was later reinforced by a weather modification operation in Lampung from Aug. 26 to Aug. 30. Rudy Sjawal Sugiarto, head of the Lampung Provincial Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), said the operation supported ground firefighting and water bombing by helping wet areas that needed it and reducing the risk of new fires.
Two helicopters provided by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) were also put on standby for water bombing, with priority given to Way Kambas National Park.
The response at Way Kambas shows that protecting habitat requires a series of complementary measures, from risk detection and field verification to rapid firefighting, post-fire monitoring and efforts to reduce the risk of new fires.
A wider burden
The scale of the threat is reflected in the national area affected by fires. Forestry Ministry data showed that forest and land fires covered 107,465.47 hectares from January to June 2026.
West Kalimantan recorded the largest area affected, at 28,680.47 hectares, followed by Riau with 15,477.95 hectares and East Nusa Tenggara with 10,538.30 hectares.
The figures show the scale of pressure from fires during the first half of 2026, but the area burned alone does not determine the extent of ecological damage. The location of a fire also determines what is at stake, including vegetation, wildlife habitat, peatlands and ecosystem functions.
When fires occur in areas of high ecological value, their impact extends beyond lost vegetation. The government must deploy personnel, equipment and funds to fight the fires, while affected wildlife may require rescue, rehabilitation or translocation.
Forest and land fires also add pressure to Indonesia's climate agenda. The Forestry Ministry has said about 60 percent of efforts to meet the national greenhouse gas emissions reduction target for 2030 rely on the forestry and land sector under the FOLU Net Sink 2030 framework.
The government estimates that about Rp204 trillion in funding will be needed to achieve the target.
Preventing forest and land fires is therefore not only about protecting forest cover or rescuing wildlife. It also means preserving ecosystems that store and absorb carbon and supporting Indonesia's national climate targets.
The fires create interconnected costs, from habitat loss and a greater risk of human-wildlife conflict to pressure on public funds and the loss of ecosystem functions that support climate goals.
Wildlife protection should not begin only after animals have been forced out of their habitat. Evacuation remains a vital emergency measure, but prevention needs to come before the threat reaches that point.
Every verified hotspot near critical habitat should be treated as a signal for rapid action. Putting fires out early is not simply about limiting the area burned. It also helps preserve wildlife habitat, reduce the risk of human-wildlife conflict and maintain forests' role in supporting the climate.
The greatest measure of success in fighting forest and land fires is preserving intact habitat, keeping wildlife in its natural environment and ensuring forests continue to perform their essential functions.
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