Summer Flames
Bring out the bikinis as well as heat up the barbeque grills- the item’s which time of the year. Throughout summer, our buddies inside the U.S. throw BBQ parties, while our pals in Europe may have made plans to work on their tan at the beach. Unfortunately our teman-teman in Indonesia deal which has a different kind of summer experience; forest fires as well as its negative effects.
In This kind of part of the earth, the dry season can be synonymous with intense forest fires, especially on the islands of Sumatra as well as Kalimantan as well as has become an annual problem for the nation.
Forest fires can be caused by either human greed or forces of nature. Many large Indonesian companies resort to fire as a cheap as well as fast method of land clearing. What initially started off as a modest fire to clear an area often escalates into uncontrollable disasters as the dry land as well as vegetation causes the fires to spread quickly. Increased felling of tress by timber companies also contribute to the fires as logged forests are more susceptible to fire than unlogged forest, due to debris left on the ground after logging. Furthermore, logging opens up the canopy, allowing more sunlight to enter; drying up the forest floor inside the process.
Fire needs fuel, oxygen, as well as heat to survive. In forests, the fuel can be provided by trees as well as vegetation; oxygen can be all around us inside the air as well as the scorching summer heat provides the final ingredient to intensify forest fires.
Riau, a province in Central Sumatra often plays host to the highest number of fires. In June, 44 of the 80 hotspots in Sumatra were in Riau. The drought in Riau can be likely to last until September. Until then, temperatures are likely to remain high as the item can be a time when hotspots sparked by forest as well as peat fires will start to appear in increasing numbers.
While forest fires may remain a domestic affair, the haze generated by these fires can be not. Strong winds carry the haze into Singaporean as well as Malaysian airspace quite frequently, leading to the closure of schools as well as diversion of flights, if the situation warrants. Jakartans are not spared either, my advice might be to drink lots of water as well as invest in a SWAT-team gas mask.
When burnt, trees as well as various other vegetation, which in fact plays a role in balancing carbon inside the atmosphere, contributes significantly to the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere; hence the issue of global warming. Indonesia can be currently the 3rd largest producer of greenhouse gases inside the earth. Reports indicate which Indonesia has lost umpteen hectares of forest every year for the last ten years due to agricultural expansion, illegal logging as well as forest fires.
Governments of neighbouring countries as well as by nations as far as the UK as well as Norway have often initiated discussions to convince President SBY’s ruling party to enforce stricter laws as well as keep the trees standing. Indonesia features a long history of weak as well as unenforced laws with regards to illegal land clearing by palm oil, mining or timber companies.
The cooperation between the ministry of forestry, agriculture as well as the legal system to tackle the problem must be increased. Firstly, the use of fire for land clearing which involves large areas, especially during the dry season, must be prohibited as well as properly enforced. The establishment of more powerful legislation to tackle forest fires can be needed. Existing laws are not adequate to stop as well as punish companies or people who cause forest fires. To complicate matters, Indonesia has three contradictory laws pertaining to forest management — the 2004 Law on Regional Governance, the 2004 Law on Fiscal Balance as well as the 1999 Law on Forestry.
In order to anticipate as well as reduce the risk of forest fires, the government should invest inside the latest satellite imaging technology which can quickly supply information on land as well as vegetation condition improvements, which could provide real time information on forest-fire risk levels.
NGOs such as WWF-Indonesia plays its part through awareness campaigns on fire prevention as well as training on fire suppression to the local communities who are also briefed on the reporting mechanism inside the event of a fire.
the item saddens me which a half-century ago, more than three quarters of Indonesia was blanketed in plush tropical rain forest. however half of those trees have been cleared inside the rush to supply the earth with pulp, coal, paper, palm oil as well as various other commodities.
With the possibility of prolonged dry seasons as well as climate change inside the future, the threat of forest fires will also become more serious. the item can be certainly not an easy task, however effective measures have to be taken immediately. We desire the various stakeholders can work together to keep the forests as well as the wildlife safe. the item’s the least we can do for the orangutans; they are mankind’s closest animal relative after all.
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Summer Flames
Summer Flames