Indonesia Claims Fewer Hotspots in Concessions

TheIndonesia.id - Ministry of Environment and Forestry claimed fewer hotspots were found in concession areas in Indonesia this year with 27 percent drop compared to 2020.

Director general for law enforcement at the Ministry, Rasio Ridho Sani, revealed that the decline has been occurring in the past few years, and his office continues to look into the reason behind it.

“[Hotspots] in concessions have been decreasing from 2015 to this year. The peak was in 2015 and 2019, and the number declined in 2020 and 2021. We’re still investigating on whether this is due to concessions’ change of behavior,” Sani said in Jakarta on Monday, December 27.

According to data released by the Ministry, the Terra/Aqua satellite recorded 296 hotspots in concession areas in 2021, dropping 27 percent from 406 detected hotspots in the previous year.

It also recorded a whooping number of 19,458 hotspots during 2015 and 4,093 in 2019.

Despite the relatively low figure, Sani said his office will continue to strictly monitor any findings of hotspot in concession areas, and the directorate general will immediately take action against concession owners if there’s any indication of hotspots.

The declining of hotspots in concessions is parallel with the declining land fires in the country this year. However, the Ministry asserted that it will not lower its level of alertness as it called for related stakeholders to continue preventive measures.

The Ministry also revealed that overall, 11,225 hotspots were detected across Indonesian territory during 2021.