Government Should Map Fire Prone Areas

Sungailiat, Bangka Belitung (Antara Babel) - The environmental non-governmental organization Wahana Lingkungan Hidup (Walhi) of Bangka Belitung province urged the provincial and district administrations to map fire-prone forest areas, Walhi Executive Director of Bangka Belitung Ratno Budi stated here on Wednesday.

He remarked that mapping can assist the authorities and people in supervising and taking pertinent actions during incidents of forest fires in the areas.

"As of now, the administrations have not mapped the fire prone areas. Any fire prevention and extinguishment are done according to the people's reports," Ratno noted.

He pointed out that there have been several instances of fire sparks in peatland areas such as in Baturusa and Selindung, which are prone to forest fires.

"We have to take action to prevent forest fires," Ratno affirmed.

The administration should also strongly monitor forest areas that have been converted to plantations by large-scale business sectors.

"I can see that the administrations are more likely to wait until the people report about the fires rather than proactively take preventive actions," Ratno stated, adding that appropriate actions should be taken to prevent the fires.