Environment Minister Acknowledges Water Shortages Hamper Forest Fire Fighting Efforts

Efforts to extinguish forest and land fires (karhutla) in South Kalimantan Province are beginning to face the obstacle of increasingly limited water sources due to the dry season.

This was revealed by Indonesia’s Environment Minister, Mohammad Jumhur Hidayat, during a direct inspection of a karhutla site on Jalan Kurnia Ujung, Landasan Ulin Utara Village, Liang Anggang District, on Monday (24/8). The residential and peatland agricultural area is a fire-prone zone.

Jumhur assessed that the lack of water supply remains the main obstacle in the process of extinguishing and wetting karhutla in South Kalimantan, especially in the Ring 1 area of Syamsudin Noor Airport in Banjarbaru City.

“The difficulty of accessing water sources at the fire locations slows down the cooling process of peatland. Ideally, after the fire is successfully extinguished, the land must be ensured to remain wet, and that requires a very large water supply,” said Jumhur, accompanied by Banjarbaru Mayor Erna Lisa Halaby.

In response to this crucial obstacle, the Ministry of Environment has allocated a special budget for water source infrastructure by constructing boreholes in karhutla-prone locations as a long-term solution.

“The fact is we must overcome this by building boreholes. We have allocated a budget to build several boreholes downwards, perhaps to a depth of 40 to 50 metres to reach a stable water source,” he stressed.

While awaiting the construction of boreholes and physical extinguishing by the joint team of the TNI, Polri, BNPB, and the community, the government is also preparing health facilities to anticipate a surge in cases of illness caused by smoke (acute respiratory infections).

“The first thing we do to address this is to ensure the fire is extinguished first. We also support the religious activity of praying for rain (istisqa),” he said.

Furthermore, Jumhur stressed that the government will not tolerate acts of forest and land burning, the majority of which are triggered by human actions in land clearing. Law enforcement is now proceeding aggressively, both against individual perpetrators and corporations.

“Law enforcement will proceed. Just yesterday, around 72 people were named as suspects by the police from 9 regional police forces. Based on the ministry’s updated data, 42 companies in Kalimantan are indicated to have contributed to triggering hotspots, and 11 of them are strongly indicated to have carried out burning,” said Jumhur, adding that perpetrators of burning will face strict sanctions, including demands for fines to cover environmental restoration costs.

The Environment Minister’s visit to South Kalimantan was also accompanied by the distribution of masks and medicines to residents affected by smoke haze in several locations in Banjarbaru.