TRAINING ON CONTROLLING FOREST AND LAND FIRES AROUND THE “HLG LONDERANG” PEATLAND ECOSYSTEM FOR STUDENTS

The Korea-Indonesia Forest Cooperation Center (KIFC) through the project “Restoration of Burnt Peatlands in Jambi” in cooperation with the Directorate of Peat Ecosystem Degradation Control (PKEG), Directorate General of Pollution and Environmental Degradation Control (PPKL), MoEF, held a training activity for students “Forest and Land Fire Management Training” on Friday, April 26 2024. This training was held at the Kenali Peatland Education Center and the Manggala Agni DAOPS IX Office in Jambi City. KIFC also collaborates with various regional level stakeholders such as local universities (Jambi University), Balai PPI Sumatera, especially Manggala Agni DAOPS IX Jambi City.

The forest and land fire control training activity was divided into two sessions, the first session was an explanation regarding the Korea-Indonesia joint project “Restoration of Burnt Peatlands in Jambi” which was held at the Kenali Peatland Education Center. The second session was an explanation regarding the introduction of Manggala Agni, the basic theory of forest and land fires, an introduction to extinguishing equipment, the formation of team, and a firefighting simulation held at the Manggala Agni DAOPS IX office.

Jambi Province is one of the fice regions with the largest forest and land fire problems in Indonesia. Peatlands covering an area of 115.634 ha in Jambi Province experienced forest and land fires in 2015, including Londerang Protected Peat Forest (HLG) area which is located in the Mendahara River-Batanghari River Peat Hydrological Unit (KHG). The Indonesian government then set seven priority provinces for the peat restoration program with a target of 1,2 million ha by 2024, one of which is Jambi Province. Forest and land fire control training activities for students are one of the efforts to support Korea-Indonesia cooperation projects in sustainable peatland management.

“The younger generation as the fronline of preventing and controlling forest and land fires in Jambi. Therefore, KIFC is collaborating with Jambi University (UNJA) to increase the younger generation’s awareness of the issue of forest and land fires through this training.” Said Kim Hyoung Gyun, as project manager for Restoration of Burnt Peatlands in Jambi.

“I learned about the situation in the restoration of burnt peatland field with KIFC. I also gained new knowledge and experience through forest and land fire extinguishing simulation activities by Manggala Agni team,” said Amara (21), a student majoring in Forestry, UNJA.

Nanda (19), also expressed her hope for KIFC to be able to organize sustainable training activities for the community from the school level to communities around the forest area.

Cooperation in the forestry sector between Korean and Indonesian government, which has existed since 1973, became the background for the establishment of the Korea-Indonesia Forest Cooperation Center (KIFC) in 2010. Several projects that have been successfully carried out are Sentul Eco-Edu Tourism Forest (SEETF) in Bogor (2011-2013), Korea-Indonesia Joint REDD+ Project “Tasik Besar Sarkap” Forest Management Unit in Riau Province (2013-2016), Development of Wood Biomass Pilot Plantation Project in Semarang, Central Java (2013-2022), and “Tunak Ecotourism Park” at TWA Gunung Tunak, Lombok, NTT (2015-2020). One of the project that currently ongoing is the Restoration of Burnt Peatland in Jambi with Directorate of Peat Ecosystem Degradation Control (PKEG), Directorate General of Pollution and Environmental Degradation Control (PPKL), MoEF, as the executing agency. This project has been implemented since 2020 with the one of focuses of its activities is increasing public awareness in peatland management.