WALHI West Java: Human Activity Main Trigger of Forest Fires Beyond Extreme Weather

The dry season affecting various regions in Indonesia has begun to have a significant impact on the increasing risk of forest and land fires. However, the natural phenomenon of extreme weather is considered not the only factor causing fires in protected and conservation forest areas. Dedi Kurniawan, Chair of the Regional Council of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI) West Java and the National Communication Forum for Indonesian Conservation Cadres (FK3I), asserted that human activity plays a crucial role as a fire trigger, whether carried out intentionally or unintentionally. According to Dedi, human involvement in forest areas is often related to three main sectors that need to be strictly monitored. These activities include large and small-scale plantations, geothermal activity, and the tourism sector. “The forest and land fires occurring at present do have another very significant trigger, namely human activity. The factor of human involvement in the area includes plantation activities, geothermal, and tourism activities,” said Dedi Kurniawan on Wednesday (29/7/2026). He added that fire cases occurring during the dry season are often rooted in management errors and weak supervision on the ground. Area managers are obliged to carry out routine inspections of activities in their regions to anticipate unwanted impacts. In order to reduce the number of forest and land fires, WALHI is urging the government to immediately conduct an in-depth analysis of every fire incident. This analysis is expected to serve as study material for creating stricter regulations regarding the limitation of human activities in vulnerable zones. Dedi suggested concrete steps such as limiting tourist visits in protected forest areas during the peak of the dry season and increasing the intensity of supervision by the authorities. “To anticipate forest and land fires, the government should make efforts by limiting tourist visits and increasing supervision,” he concluded.