VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

In September, Indonesia and many countries in Asia enter the peak period of the long dry season which has started since early May. Even though it has already rained in several areas, it cannot be denied that observers say that September is entering the highest phase of the dry season.

The effects of the dry season, apart from drying out water sources, disrupt food security, and also result in forest and land fires. The fires are one of the causes of increasingly hot air temperatures apart from the main El Nino effect in the Pacific Ocean.

According to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency, when El Nino occurs, the cloud growth area shifts from Indonesian territory to the central Pacific Ocean region, causing reduced rainfall in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry noted that the number of hot spots in Indonesia had reached 3,788 spots as of September 5 2023 and continues to increase. Minister of Environment and Forestry, Siti Nurbaya Bakar said that this number had increased significantly up to three times compared to last year's data which reached only 979 hot spots.

Currently, there are six provinces that are prone to forest fires, and are badly affected by the haze. They are Jambi, Riau and South Sumatra, as well as West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan in the Indonesian part of Kalimantan and several areas on the island of Java.

Meanwhile, Head of the Agency, Dwikorita Karnawati, said that Indonesia is currently facing two climate phenomena simultaneously, namely El Nino and the positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), which give rise to the potential for a drought like in 2019. The Agency predicts that the peak of the 2023 dry season in Indonesia has occurred from July to September with coverage of 582 season zones (zom) or 83 percent of Indonesia's total 699 zom.

Facing the peak of the dry season, the government and related parties have prepared anticipations, such as providing incentives to farmers who fail to harvest, maintaining food security stability, importing main staples as rice, providing education on dealing with forest and land fires to village officials and farmers as well as seriously monitoring of respiratory tract diseases. Another anticipation is the rehabilitation and maintenance of existing wells. There are arrangements for dew dams,and thirdly,there arewater drops with water tanks if the springs dry up.In addition, engineering artificial rain is also an effort to overcome drought and forest and land fires.

Another effect of the long dry season and forest and land fires is the decline in air quality in several regions of Indonesia. According to the Agency's data, the Kalimantan region, especially West Kalimantan, is the region most affected.

Meanwhile in Jakarta, the problem faced is precisely because of pollutant emissions from motorized vehicles. Regarding the El Nino phenomenon with its dry season, Regarding the El Nino phenomenon with its dry season, it's time to think about not only a policy issue, but also a matter of awareness of the importance of environmental conservation.