JAKARTA, Sept 1 (Reuters) – Efforts to reduce wildfires ablaze across Indonesia will be challenging as the El Niño weather phenomenon will peak this month, the forestry minister said on Tuesday, describing the devastation as largely man-made.
• Indonesia has intensified efforts to contain haze from forest and land fires across six provinces in Borneo and Sumatra islands. The haze has caused respiratory illnesses and forced thousands of schools to move classes online, including in neighbouring Malaysia.
• The “super-El Niño” weather conditions exacerbate the fires, causing drought.
• Hot spots were reduced across Kalimantan and Sumatra by the end of August, minister Raja Juli Antoni said.
• “Our problems are not over. September is the peak of El Niño,” he said. “September is the main fight for us.”
• The haze caused more than 50,000 cases of acute respiratory infection across seven provinces between July and August, health ministry official Andi Saguni said on Tuesday.
• Winds blows haze to surrounding provinces and cause infections in places without wildfires, Andi added.
• Wildfires burned about 200,000 hectares (494,210 acres) of land from January to July, forestry ministry data showed, increasing from 107,465 burned hectares from January to June.
• Raja Juli said the fires were in large part deliberately set, either by individuals or corporations.
• Despite crackdowns, burning forests to clear land for agriculture and other economic activities has been a common practice in Indonesia. Borneo has vast stretches of peatland where fire can smoulder underground for weeks.
• Six forestry permit holders have been fined and the ministry has said a criminal probe was possible.
• Satellite imaging has revealed that 42 companies hold concessions with high wildfire potential, senior environment ministry official Rizal Irawan said on Monday.
• Authorities used weather modification to trigger rain and have “water bombed” areas to contain the hot spots and mitigate the fires, Raja Juli said.
• The Philippines said haze blanketed the capital Manila on Tuesday, pushing air quality to “very unhealthy” and “acutely unhealthy” levels in some areas.
• The air quality in six areas in Malaysia’s state of Sarawak reached hazardous levels on Tuesday, data from Malaysia’s environmental department showed.
(Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman and Fransiska Nangoy; Additional reporting by Ashley Tang in Kuala Lumpur; Writing by Stanley Widianto; Editing by Christian Schmollingerm, Martin Petty)
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