Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni said Indonesia's ability to control forest and land fires has continued to show improvement during the last few El Niño cycles.
"If we look at the progress of forest and land fire management during the last few El Niño cycles, there is one thing we should be grateful for: our ability to control forest and land fires continues to show improvement," the Minister of Forestry said in a statement.
He explained that the area of forest and land fires during El Niño continues to show a downward trend. During the 2015 El Niño, the area of forest and land fires was recorded at around 2.61 million hectares, dropping to 1.64 million hectares in 2019, and then again to around 1.16 million hectares in 2023.
In the last two El Nino cycles, he continued, the area of forest and land fires was successfully reduced by 55.6 percent compared to conditions in 2015.
