Asia Pulp & Paper Sinar Mas has prepared various measures to address the 2020 dry season in the Jambi area to prevent forest and land fires. One of the preventive measures is the Integrated Forest and Farming System or Desa Makmur Peduli Api (DMPA) program carried out by PT Wirakarya Sakti.
The environment ministry’s director for forest and land fire control, Basar Manullang praised the program stated IFFS/DMPA have empowers the community in and around APP operating area and reduces slash and burn. He further explained that the program focuses on community which is the subject of environment development during the webinar about Jambi preparedness for the 2020 dry season last week.
Basar also added that the DMPA program was purposefully made to improve the community lives in and around APP concession both socially and economically. He even suggested collaborating it with National Disaster Mitigation Agency programs to be more effective.
PT Wira Karya Sakti's Public Relations Taufik Qurahman said they have assisted 67 villages. The IFFS/DMPA program has assisted the community through horticultural agriculture and food, cattle farm, fisheries, SMEs, tourism, and waste treatment.
APP Sinar Mas has also prepared an Automatic Weather Station (AWS) system to detect weather changes. "This automatic weather gauge can help government efforts in preventing forest and land fires in Jambi” said Remote sensing and weather expert, Asep Karsidi.
Asep explains that the system helps to reduce numbers of personnels needed in the field and also is able to reach remote areas. APP Sinar Mas Group has built 53 AWS in Jambi.
The system measures elements of weather, air temperature, humidity and measuring soil moisture up to one meter deep.
Later, the data collected can be used to develop an early warning system to alert authorities of the fire possibilities. AWS, which was developed by APP, can determine in detail forest and land fires in an area with specific color, so it is often used to predict potential forest and land fires.