Indonesia seals off 50 companies over forest and land fires

Jakarta: Indonesia has imposed restrictions on 50 companies located within eight provinces following the identification of forest and land fire hotspots in their operational areas, according to Deputy Environment Minister Diaz Hendropriyono. The authorities are monitoring these firms to assess any involvement in the blazes, with sanctions pending if proven culpability.

As reported by Antara news agency, the Forestry Ministry identified 1,037 high-confidence hotspots nationwide as of 9:05pm local time on Tuesday, a decrease of 400 or 27.8 per cent from the previous day's 1,437 hotspots, based on data from its SiPongi monitoring system. Among the six priority provinces, Central Kalimantan reported 266 hotspots, South Sumatra had 245, South Kalimantan had 72, Jambi had 62, West Kalimantan had 43, and Riau had 15.

While hotspot numbers decreased in Central, West, and South Kalimantan, they rose in South Sumatra, Jambi, and Riau, necessitating ongoing intensive monitoring. Joint teams are conducting patrols, field inspections, and firefighting operations, backed by water bombing, aerial surveillance, and weather modification measures when required.

Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni has called on communities, farmers, and companies to remain vigilant against forest and land fires until late October or early November, emphasizing that natural rainfall is anticipated to arrive later than initially forecasted. Citing updated forecasts from Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), Raja Juli warned that the intense El Nino, akin to the 2015 event, will persist for an additional one and a half months.