Malaysia Offers Weather Modification Assistance to Tackle Forest Fires in Indonesia
The Malaysian government has formally offered assistance to Indonesia to handle the forest and land fire (karhutla) crisis that is triggering cross-border haze. The offer includes weather modification operations or cloud seeding to induce rain in affected areas.
Malaysia’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability, Arthur Joseph Kurup, conveyed the offer after holding talks by telephone with Indonesia’s Minister of Environment and Forestry, Jumhur Hidayat, on Monday (24/8). The main focus of the two ministers’ discussion was accelerating the extinguishing of fire hotspots and mitigating the impact of smoke that is beginning to spread to neighbouring countries.
Arthur stressed that Malaysia is ready to deploy resources to assist with the firefighting process. However, the realisation of the assistance will be adjusted according to an official request from the Indonesian government. The cloud seeding operation offered aims to increase rainfall intensity to reduce smoke concentration and extinguish fires in areas that are difficult to reach by land routes.
Currently, thousands of hotspots have been detected in several regions of Indonesia, particularly on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan. Wind direction is carrying some of the fire smoke into Malaysian territory, with Sarawak being the most significantly affected area because it directly borders three provinces in Kalimantan.
Intensive coordination between the two countries regarding the timing of the weather modification operation needs to be carried out. This step is expected to strengthen regional cooperation in addressing an annual environmental issue that impacts public health in Southeast Asia.
Haze from forest and land fires caused visibility at Sultan Thaha Airport in Jambi to drop to 800 metres. Two flights from Jakarta were forced to be diverted to Batam and Palembang.
The Malaysian government appreciates Indonesia’s swift action in handling forest and land fires.
Two aircraft on the Jakarta-Jambi route failed to land at Sultan Thaha Sayefuddin Airport in Jambi City on Tuesday afternoon (25/8) after circling in the air due to thick haze.
The Pekanbaru city government has extended distance learning for all early childhood, primary and lower secondary schools due to the forest and land fire haze.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) revealed that the cause of the forest fire haze reaching neighbouring countries is influenced by wind movement.
Malaysia is urging ASEAN to strengthen prevention of transboundary haze after 11 areas recorded unhealthy air quality, with the Air Pollutant Index in Serian reaching 190.