Wildfires in national parks threaten biodiversity as firefighting gaps persist
Raging fires have scorched a number of national parks in Kalimantan and Sumatra in recent weeks, as volunteer firefighters find themselves overwhelmed with limited resources to control blazes that threaten an orangutan population.
Recent weeks have seen a series of devastating wildfires ravage national parks in Kalimantan and Sumatra, putting immense strain on volunteer firefighters who lack the necessary resources to combat the blazes effectively. The situation in Central Kalimantan's Tanjung Puting National Park is particularly dire, as an orangutan population faces imminent threat due to the fast-spreading fires.
In a desperate plea for help, a group of 60 volunteer firefighters recently penned an open letter to President Prabowo Subianto, demanding large-scale firefighting assistance for the 412,000-hectare park. The volunteers admitted defeat last Saturday, as their capacity could not keep up with the raging fires and limited access to water.
The 60-member network, known as Moncos, emphasized the urgent need for government intervention to battle the blazes at the park, with 54,000 hectares already burned, an area nearly the size of Jakarta.
The burning has spread across multiple zones of the park, including a crucial conservation corridor known as a "core zone". Tanjung Puting, rich in peatlands, serves as a vital habitat for the Bornean orangutan, which is considered the largest population of the endangered species worldwide. The video of the open letter has garnered over five million views on Instagram, amplifying pressure on Jakarta to intensify its efforts in battling the fires.
Written by urgent.news from The Jakarta Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
