Kebakaran Hutan Meningkat, Dikhawatirkan Picu Pemanasan Global
Indonesia Forest Fires Surge, Stoking Global Warming Fears
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
JUMLAH titik api kebakaran hutan dan lahan terus meningkat, data satelit pada Kamis menunjukkan, kabut asap menyebar di seluruh kawasan Asia Tenggara dan menambah kekhawatiran tentang dampak meningkatnya kebakaran hutan dan lahan memicu pemanasan global.
Kebakaran akibat tindakan ilegal untuk membuka lahan perkebunan dan pertanian meningkat di Sumatra dan Kalimantan, setelah Indonesia mengerahkan helikopter pemboman air dan ribuan pasukan keamanan untuk mengatasinya.
Kebakaran hutan Indonesia merupakan wabah terbaru di seluruh dunia - kobaran api besar telah merambah Amazon di Amerika Selatan sementara kebakaran hutan menyapu seluruh Australia timur dalam awal yang ganas dan awal-awal menuju musim kebakaran.
Kebakaran hutan Indonesia adalah masalah tahunan tetapi telah diperburuk tahun ini oleh cuaca kering, dan dalam beberapa hari terakhir mengirimkan kabut asap di atas Malaysia dan dikhawatirkan memicu pertikaian diplomatik.
Jumlah "hotspot" - daerah dengan panas yang sangat kuat yang terdeteksi oleh satelit yang mengindikasikan kemungkinan besar kebakaran - melonjak tajam di Indonesia pada Rabu, menurut Pusat Meteorologi Khusus ASEAN yang berbasis di Singapura.
Ada 1.619 hotspot yang terdeteksi di Indonesia bagian dari Kalimantan dan Sumatra naik dari 861 sehari sebelumnya, menurut penghitungan dari Pusat Meteorologi Khusus ASEAN, yang memantau kebakaran hutan dan wabah asap.
Kiki Taufik, seorang juru kampanye hutan dengan Greenpeace di Indonesia, mengatakan kepada AFP bahwa hanya ada sedikit hujan dalam dua pekan terakhir, khususnya di Kalimantan yang menyaksikan peningkatan titik api.
Kalimantan terbagi antara Indonesia, Malaysia dan Brunei.
Masalah Kebakaran
Taufik melihat kesamaan antara nyala api di Indonesia dan nyala api di Amazon, di mana petani juga memulai kebakaran untuk membuka lahan untuk pertanian.
"Ini seharusnya mengingatkan orang-orang bahwa kita menghadapi krisis iklim," katanya tentang kebakaran baru-baru ini di seluruh dunia.
"Industri sedang mencari cara cepat untuk memperluas perkebunan dengan menggunakan api."
Dan dia memperingatkan kebakaran Indonesia akan menambah emisi yang merusak iklim di kepulauan itu, yang sudah termasuk yang tertinggi di dunia.
Pada 2015, Indonesia mengalami kebakaran hutan terburuk selama hampir dua dekade, yang secara dramatis meningkatkan emisi gas rumah kaca.
Ketegangan diplomatik juga meningkat ketika Menteri Lingkungan Hidup Malaysia Yeo Bee Yin menuduh mitranya dari Indonesia "menyangkal", setelah Jakarta bersikeras bahwa kebakaran di Malaysia telah menyebabkan kabut asap di sana.
"Biarkan data berbicara sendiri," katanya dalam posting di Facebook, menunjukkan angka-angka dari pusat ASEAN yang hanya menunjukkan beberapa hotspot di Malaysia dibandingkan dengan ratusan di Indonesia.
Menteri Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia Siti Nurbaya Bakar pada Rabu, mengatakan kepada AFP bahwa "hotspot tidak hanya ditemukan di Indonesia, tetapi juga di Sarawak [di Malaysia Malaysia] dan Semenanjung Malaysia".
"Kami tidak berpangku tangan," tambahnya seperti dikutip AFP yang dilansir MailOnline.
THE NUMBER of blazes in Indonesia's rainforests has jumped sharply, satellite data showed Thursday, spreading smog across Southeast Asia and adding to concerns about the impact of increasing wildfire outbreaks worldwide on global warming.
Illegal blazes to clear land for agricultural plantations have been raging on Sumatra and Borneo islands, with Indonesia deploying water-bombing helicopters and thousands of security forces to tackle them.
It is just the latest such outbreak worldwide -- huge blazes have torn through the Amazon in South America while bushfires are sweeping across eastern Australia in an unusually ferocious and early start to the wildfire season.
Indonesia's forest fires are an annual problem but have been worsened this year by particularly dry weather, and in recent days sent toxic smog floating over Malaysia and triggered a diplomatic row.
The number of "hotspots" -- areas of intense heat detected by satellite which indicate a high chance of fire -- jumped sharply in Indonesia on Wednesday, according to the Singapore-based ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre.
There were 1,619 hotspots detected on the Indonesian part of Borneo and Sumatra up from 861 a day earlier, according to a tally from the centre, which monitors forest fires and smog outbreaks.
Kiki Taufik, a forests campaigner with Greenpeace in Indonesia, told AFP there has been little rain in the past fortnight, particularly on Indonesian Borneo which saw the sharpest increase in hotspots.
Borneo is shared between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
- Burning issue -
Taufik saw similarities between the blazes in Indonesia and those in the Amazon, where farmers also start fires to clear land for agriculture.
"This should remind people we are facing a climate crisis," he said of the recent fires around the world.
"Industries are looking to expand plantations using fires."
And he warned Indonesia's fires would add to the sprawling archipelago's climate-damaging emissions, already among the highest in the world.
In 2015 Indonesia suffered its worst forest fires for almost two decades, which dramatically increased its greenhouse gas emissions.
Diplomatic tensions were also rising as Malaysian Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin accused her Indonesian counterpart of being "in denial", after Jakarta insisted fires in Malaysia had caused the smog there.
"Let the data speak for itself," she said in a Facebook post, indicating figures from the ASEAN centre which showed only a handful of hotspots in Malaysia compared to the hundreds in Indonesia.
Indonesian Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar hit back Wednesday, telling AFP that "hotspots are not only found in Indonesia, but also in Sarawak [on Malaysian Borneo] and peninsular Malaysia".
"We are not standing idly by," she added.
Indonesian security forces have been struggling to tame the blazes as many burn underground in carbon-rich peat, which has been cleared across vast areas of Indonesia for plantations.
After being cleared and drained of water, peat is highly combustible and hard to extinguish once ablaze.
There have been some outbreaks of fire in the Malaysian part of Borneo. Drone footage taken by AFP in the area showed smoke rising from charcoal grey patches of smouldering earth, surrounded by pristine forest.
