Come Before the Fire Comes

GARISBUMI.com – Every dry season, there is one news item that almost always appears: forest and land fires.

The time seems to have been scheduled. Around July, August, September. Starting to see smoke. The fire point increases. Officers arrived. Not long after, the helicopter took off carrying out water bombing. Then we talk a lot about forest and land fires. So almost every year.

I opened the Ministry of Forestry data. In five years, 2021 to 2025, the area of ​​forest and land burned will reach 2,461,378 hectares. The worst will occur in 2023, reaching 1,161,192 hectares.

Such a large figure is difficult to imagine. What's easier might be the smoke. Shortness of breath. Disrupted schools. Damaged gardens.

I tried to find out the economic losses due to forest and land fires during those five years. Did not find a single consolidated national figure.

Maybe it's difficult to calculate it. Because it's not just trees and land that are burning. There are lost agricultural products, disrupted production, costs for health, education and tourism. There is no cost to put out the fire yet. The Ministry of Forestry, BNPB, TNI-Polri and the regions all share the costs.

If they were all collected, I don't know how many there would be. Which is definitely very expensive.