VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (PMK) Muhadjir Effendy has said that measures for anticipating the El Nino phenomenon would be cross-sectoral.

"Later, we will discuss it specifically at the level of the Coordinating Ministry for PMK, across ministries, and many ministries outside PMK coordination. We will coordinate between coordinating ministers," he informed at Soekarno Hatta Airport, Banten, on Monday.

He said President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has given directions on anticipating the impact of El Nino, which could cause drought in a number of regions.

The directions involve preparing and storing cushion stocks or excess supplies of raw materials to prevent unexpected shortages.

A similar effort had been made by the government this year when some agricultural lands experienced harvest failure due to floods.

Head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Suharyanto expressed the hope that the impact of El Nino this year will not be as severe as was witnessed in 2015 and 2019.

Based on information from the BNPB's website, MODIS satellite data detected 129,813 fire hotspots in 2015 with visibility recorded at just 100 meters.

The standard air pollution index (ISPU) stood at more than 2 thousand, which is categorized as very dangerous.

Forests and lands spanning a total area of 2.61 million hectares were burned, causing up to Rp 221 trillion (around US$14.68 billion) in economic losses. Further, education and aviation activities were paralyzed for 2–3 months.

"Hopefully, the 2015 and 2019 incidents will not occur again. For anticipation, we are preparing more facilities and infrastructures compared to the previous years," the BNPB head said.

Suharyanto informed that his agency monitors six priority areas where forest and land fires occur frequently, namely Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and West Kalimantan.

As of late June 2023, the agency had detected a number of hotspots, all of which were extinguished.  (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - The National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) and a number of institutions within the Cooperation for Torture Prevention (KuPP) have urged the government to immediately ratify the Optional Protocol Convention Against Torture (OPCAT).

"This optional protocol ratification will strengthen the national mechanism for torture prevention," Deputy Chief of Komnas Perempuan Mariana Amiruddin said during a press conference here on Monday.

It would underline the country's commitment to fulfilling the Constitutional right to be free from torture as a right that cannot be reduced under any circumstances, she added.

The commission said the OPCAT ratification is important given that it has been 25 years since Indonesia ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment through Law No.5 of 1998.

In an effort to prevent and fight against torture, the commission, along with five other state institutions, formed the KuPP in 2016.

The institutions comprise the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK), Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI), Ombudsman, and National Commission on Disabilities (Komnas Disabilitas).

KuPP expressed its concern over the torture and inhumane actions that are alleged to have continued to occur in the reformation era as well as compassion for victims.

Inhumane actions, including torture and sexual violence, are frequently carried out by law enforcement authorities or institutions related to them, Komnas HAM member Putu Elvina noted.

These are evident from the various direct complaints, KuPP's research findings, KuPP monitoring team's findings, and news from the mass media.

According to Elvina, KuPP is preparing a report on 25 years of the Convention Against Torture’s implementation and the torture prevention campaign.

KuPP is committed to preventing torture through various activities, including the monitoring of correctional facilities, police offices, immigration detention facilities (Rudenims), and safe houses for refugees.

The activities also include research, public awareness development, capacity improvement of government officials, and constructive dialogue with various ministries and institutions.  (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - The Ministry of Environment and Forestry has registered a decline in deforested area in Indonesia in 2021–2022.

Acting Director General of Forestry Planning and Environmental Management at the ministry Ruandha A. Sugardiman said that during the period, the area under deforested land was 104 thousand hectares.

At a media briefing here on Monday, he informed that the figure was obtained based on the gross deforestation area of 119.4 thousand hectares minus the reforestation area of 15.4 thousand hectares.

According to him, the figure for deforestation in 2021–2022 was 8.4 percent lower compared to the figure for 2020–2021.

He further said that in 2020–2021, the deforested area reached 113.5 thousand hectares. The figure was obtained based on a gross deforestation area of 139.1 thousand hectares minus the reforestation area of 25.6 thousand hectares.

"The decline in Indonesian forests is relatively low and tends to be stable," he observed.

Based on the gross deforestation data from 2021–2022, deforestation mainly occurred in secondary forests.

Deforestation occurred in an area of 106.4 thousand hectares or 89.1 percent of the secondary forest area, of which 70.9 percent or 75.4 thousand hectares were inside forest areas.

Regarding the conditions of land and tree cover in Indonesia, he noted changes in forest cover from time to time.

According to him, changes in land and forest cover are caused by, among other things, the conversion of land for non-forestry sector development, logging, and forest fires, as well as forest rehabilitation activities.

"To find out the existence and extent of land cover, both forested and non-forested lands, we conduct forest and deforestation monitoring every year," he informed.

The monitoring is carried out over 187 million hectares of land area in Indonesia, both inside forest areas and outside them.

The result of the monitoring in 2022 showed that there were 96 million hectares of forested land, accounting for 51.2 percent of Indonesia's total land area.

The monitoring result also showed that 88.3 million hectares or 92 percent of forested land is located inside the forest area.

The ministry's Director of Inventory and Monitoring of Forest Resources Belinda A. Margono said the results of forest and deforestation monitoring in Indonesia can be viewed and downloaded from the website http://sigap.menlhk.go.id and https://nfms.menlhk.go.id/.  (Antaranews)

North Korea held mass rallies in Pyongyang where people shouted slogans vowing a "war of revenge" to destroy the United States, as it marked the 73rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, state media reported on Monday.

About 120,000 working people and students took part in the rallies held across the capital on Sunday, state news agency KCNA reported.

Photos released by state media showed a stadium crowded with people holding placards reading "The whole U.S. mainland is within our shooting range" and "The imperialist U.S. is the destroyer of peace."

Sunday's anniversary came amid concerns Pyongyang could soon conduct another launch of its first military spy satellite to boost monitoring of U.S. military activities after its first attempt ended in failure on May 31.

North Korea now had "the strongest absolute weapon to punish the U.S. imperialists" and the "avengers on this land are burning with the indomitable will to revenge the enemy," KCNA said.

Nuclear-armed North Korea has been testing various weapons including its biggest intercontinental ballistic missile, ramping up tension with the South and the South's main ally, the United States.

In a separate foreign ministry report, North Korea said the U.S. was "making desperate efforts to ignite a nuclear war," accusing Washington of sending strategic assets to the region.

North and South Korea remain technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty. (Reuters)