Seeking Political Will Behind Forest Fire Prevention

Forest fire disasters continue to recur in Indonesia. Early April 2026 saw several hotspots in Aceh Tamiang, Bengkalis, and Riau. Although they have not yet grown large, serious efforts to prevent them from escalating must be swiftly undertaken by the government—particularly the Ministry of Forestry—considering that the dry season has only just begun. Greater risks could arise if we fail to prepare a comprehensive control plan. We need not just plans, but political will. More than that, what is required is political commitment and sincerity from all parties; no challenge is insurmountable. Looking back, forest and land fires have truly been a disaster for our development, especially in Kalimantan. On a certain morning a few years ago, a thin haze still lingered over the expanse of peat swamps. To some, it seemed like an ordinary natural phenomenon. However, for the Dayak people who have long engaged with the peat ecosystem, that haze was actually thin smoke. It was a warning that fire might have been moving deep beneath the surface. Central Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan were enveloped in smoke haze during the 2015 dry season (June-October). Several foreign media outlets described those fires as one of the largest forest fire disasters in modern Indonesian history. The smoke not only created suffocating haze for communities in Kalimantan but also ‘blanketed’ the skies of Malaysia and Singapore. Challenges of Peatlands More than 28 million people were affected by the peatland forest fire smoke haze, with hundreds of thousands of respiratory illness cases. Four years later, in June 2019, fire once again ravaged Central Kalimantan and several other provinces. Thousands of fire points (hotspots) emerged in a single day. Schools were closed, public services disrupted, economic activities paralysed, and hundreds of flight schedules cancelled. One of the challenges of peatland fires in Kalimantan is that the fire does not only burn surface vegetation but also spreads slowly underground. It is like a living snake, moving forward and scorching peat layers that have formed over thousands of years. This is the unique and dangerous character of peat fires. At first glance, the threat is invisible, and once it emerges, the fire spots are difficult to extinguish for months. Based on Hooijer’s research titled Current and Future CO₂ Emissions from Drained Peatlands in Southeast Asia, 2010, it was found that peatland fires are not merely a natural phenomenon. They are the result of complex interactions between ecological factors and human activities. Drainage of land for agriculture and plantations has lowered the peat groundwater level, making it dry more quickly and easily ignitable. Consequently, when the dry season arrives, even a small spark can trigger a large fire. However, simplifying this issue solely as a result of land clearing is an inadequate approach. We must view peat as an intact hydrological system. When the water balance is disrupted, the entire ecosystem becomes vulnerable. In fact, the stability of the groundwater level is the main key to fire prevention. This means peat must remain wet to make it impossible to burn. Herein lies the anomaly. The government always views peat fires no differently from a high-rise building fire in the wilds of Jakarta. That ‘the fire must be extinguished’, so the initial response is to send firefighting teams or special task forces that then pump water from reservoirs and natural canals as sources to put out the fire. This is not wrong, but it is often only a reactive action on a limited scale that is frequently too late. Meanwhile, for hundreds of years, the Dayak people in the interior of Kalimantan have had ‘fire control’ mechanisms on their managed peat lands. That more effective strategy is ecosystem-based preventive action. Simply put, we must ensure that peat conditions do not allow fires to occur from the outset. Community Involvement One concept developed by the author along with the team is rewetting or re-wetting peatlands. By building canal blockages and restoring natural hydrological functions, we can maintain peat moisture throughout the year. This is not an instant solution but has proven effective in the long term. All these efforts are impossible without the involvement of local communities. Therefore, in every peat research, we position the community not as objects but as subjects. From them, we also learn about local wisdom and traditions. If all that is supported by technology, it will produce innovation and change. Conversely, if they are ‘forgotten’ in this programme, what happens is not only the threat of fire but also a decline in the community’s economic capacity. In many findings, due to economic pressures felt by the community, they are forced (to return to) burning as the cheapest way to clear land. Therefore, the technical side must be accompanied by a social-economic approach. As written by Luca Tacconi, community empowerment programmes, such as developing non-burning agriculture and livelihood diversification, become important elements in fire control strategies. The problem is that without viable alternatives, bans alone will not be effective. The next factor after community involvement is the utilisation of appropriate technology. Technological advances provide us with tools that were previously unavailable. Satellite-based monitoring systems, soil moisture sensors, and fire prediction models enable early detection of potential fires. Remember that technology is merely a tool whose effectiveness depends on policy integration and preparedness at the local level. Early warning systems must be followed by rapid responses in the field. In several collaborative projects, we developed a peat fire vulnerability index model combining hydrological data, weather, and user