Indonesia's Forest and Land Fires Decreased by 81% in 2020

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) recorded that the area of forest and land fires (karhutla) in Indonesia reached 296,000 hectares in 2020. This figure decreased by 82.01% from the previous year, which reached 1.65 million hectares.

Furthermore, KLHK also reported a decrease in hotspots last year. Based on monitoring via Terra/Aqua satellites (NASA) with a confidence level of more than 80%, there were 2,565 hotspots throughout 2020. This number is lower than in 2019, which reached 29,337 hotspots.

Meanwhile, based on monitoring via NOAA satellites with a confidence level of more than 80%, there were 1,144 hotspots last year. This number decreased by 85.4% compared to 2019, which reached 7,830 hotspots.

Minister of KLHK Siti Nurbaya stated that the decrease in karhutla occurred due to more massive prevention efforts compared to previous years. One of these efforts involved weather modification techniques in collaboration with BMKG, BPPT, BNPB, and TNI AU.

Integrated patrols for karhutla prevention were also conducted in 822 villages. In addition, independent patrols were carried out in 776 villages prone to karhutla.

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