Forestry Minister: Five regional governments in South Sumatra receive forest fire assistance

Minister of Forestry Raja Juli Antoni stated that regional governments in South Sumatra have received stimulus assistance to support the handling of forest and land fires (karhutla).

Speaking to reporters in Palembang on Tuesday, Raja Juli Antoni said that last week President Prabowo issued presidential assistance (banpres) for karhutla mitigation.

For South Sumatra Province, he said, the assistance was allocated to the South Sumatra Provincial Government at Rp30 billion, the Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) Regency Government at Rp20 billion, Musi Banyuasin (Muba) Regency at Rp20 billion, Ogan Ilir Regency at Rp15 billion, and Banyuasin Regency at Rp15 billion.

The President has held a coordination meeting in person and paid special attention to karhutla mitigation.

The disbursement of the assistance is accompanied by technical guidelines from the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding the disbursement and management mechanism.

“So that these funds can be disbursed as soon as possible for karhutla mitigation, to prevent impacts, including on health and so forth,” said Minister Raja Juli Antoni.

The Minister also urged the people of South Sumatra to continue playing a role in preventing forest and land fires. According to him, the government continues to work collaboratively and synergistically to protect the public from the impacts of karhutla.

Although the number of fire hotspots in South Sumatra currently shows a declining trend, the threat of karhutla has not fully ended, as dry weather conditions may potentially persist for the next several months.

El Nino conditions may potentially last until the end of October or November before the rains return.

“We need discipline not to clear land or open plantations by burning. We convey this to farmers, to ordinary citizens, as well as to corporations,” said the Minister.

The Minister also reminded companies not to use land clearing by burning, as it risks causing karhutla and impacting public health.

“Corporations that are still stubborn, still using old methods, methods considered cheap for land clearing, but which carry great risks to public health,” said Minister Raja Juli.