Embers in the Jeramba Rengas
Forest and land fires have occurred for a long time in the South Sumatra region or South Sumatra, which is dominated by peatlands. The conditions for the worst land fires to cause a national disaster occurred in 1998, 2014 and finally 2019. As a result of these land fires there was a catastrophic haze that spread to Malaysia and Singapore. It even causes death in people affected by lung infections.
Of course the question is why land fires continue to occur in South Sumatra. Though prevention and suppression efforts have been made so as not to spread. However, in reality, hotspots are still found every year in a number of districts of South Sumatra Province, such as Ogan Ilir (OI) and Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI). Both areas have land contours that dominate peatlands.
OI District has an area of peatland area of . While the largest area is in OKI Regency, which is around 7669 hectares which is classified as deep peat. The cause of land fires is because a lot of peat land has been converted into ditches. Thus making the water content in peatlands away or even disappear.
The clearing of peatlands begins with the creation of canals (drainage). This condition causes the groundwater table to move away from the surface. This will then accelerate the rate of decomposition of organic matter by microorganisms, which in turn will make the peat vulnerable to fires.
As experienced by Jeramba Rengas Village, OKI Regency. The village which has an area of 222.45 kilometers is surrounded by deep peat. The total population is 1133 people with some having jobs as farmers who use peat.
In 1985, a PT engaged in the planting of Angkasia trees entered the village of Jerambah Rengas. Since then, PT has started making downstream canals and normalizing the village river. This behavior makes the river lose its natural contours. “The river here has many bends, the point is to hold back the water so it doesn't go straight. But now it has been made straight, there are no more bends," said a native of Jeramba Rengas Village, Mang Sukri, Saturday (14/5/2022).
According to Mang Sukri, since the disappearance of the bend, the river flow has become dry quickly because there are no barriers or barriers to hold back the water. The situation got worse when there was a drought, the river became shallow and even dried up, causing the springs in the village of Mang Sukri to disappear as well.
"Like many people's wells dry up when it's dry. If it's dry, the people here buy bottled water, until now, because they are used to it," he continued.
Apart from acacia plantations around the village, there is also a sugarcane plantation PT which was established in 2014. However, in 2019 the permit was revoked and replaced with an oil palm plantation which is still in the process of obtaining permits. Even so, the PT has planted oil palm under the pretext of trial planting.
The existence of plans to create oil palm plantations makes residents worried that it will damage the environment even worse. Because homogeneous palm plants can absorb too much water. In the end, the residents of Jerambah Rengas did not remain silent. They staged a demonstration at the OKI Regent's office to seek justice. They also set up monitoring posts around village lands for fear that PT would enter their village area after a conflict occurred with residents.
Since a PT has been operating, said Mang Sukri, land fires have often occurred in their village. Whereas before there was a PT, land fires occurred during a very long dry season, or around nine months, as happened in the 1960s and 70s.
Since peatlands often catch fire, local residents stand guard in their plantations for fear that the fire will spread to the rubber plantations which are directly adjacent to the peatlands. “In 2019 my rubber plantation was hit by a peatland fire. That was my loss of tens of millions,” recalls Mang Sukri.
It's not only the people's gardens that are threatened, livestock such as buffalo are also affected by the peatland fires. According to local residents, many buffalo suddenly died on farms. The buffalo look for food and drink in the peatland area around the village. They think that PT deliberately dumped the fertilizer in the canals and into the river.
“That is to reduce operational costs to a minimum. Disposing of fertilizer into the canal makes fertilizer spread easily. This pollution can be seen from the peat water itself, which has not been polluted yet has a dark color and tends to be black. Now the water downstream of the river is clear," he said.
The impact of the pollution is also felt by residents who still use river water for bathing. According to residents, their bodies became itchy after using river water to bathe.
Canalization and normalization of the peat and rivers of Jeramba Rengas Village also affect the ecosystem of the peat area, such as the loss of freshwater fish species.
Of course the question is why land fires continue to occur in South Sumatra. Though prevention and suppression efforts have been made so as not to spread. However, in reality, hotspots are still found every year in a number of districts of South Sumatra Province, such as Ogan Ilir (OI) and Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI). Both areas have land contours that dominate peatlands.
OI District has an area of peatland area of . While the largest area is in OKI Regency, which is around 7669 hectares which is classified as deep peat. The cause of land fires is because a lot of peat land has been converted into ditches. Thus making the water content in peatlands away or even disappear.
The clearing of peatlands begins with the creation of canals (drainage). This condition causes the groundwater table to move away from the surface. This will then accelerate the rate of decomposition of organic matter by microorganisms, which in turn will make the peat vulnerable to fires.
As experienced by Jeramba Rengas Village, OKI Regency. The village which has an area of 222.45 kilometers is surrounded by deep peat. The total population is 1133 people with some having jobs as farmers who use peat.
In 1985, a PT engaged in the planting of Angkasia trees entered the village of Jerambah Rengas. Since then, PT has started making downstream canals and normalizing the village river. This behavior makes the river lose its natural contours. “The river here has many bends, the point is to hold back the water so it doesn't go straight. But now it has been made straight, there are no more bends," said a native of Jeramba Rengas Village, Mang Sukri, Saturday (14/5/2022).
According to Mang Sukri, since the disappearance of the bend, the river flow has become dry quickly because there are no barriers or barriers to hold back the water. The situation got worse when there was a drought, the river became shallow and even dried up, causing the springs in the village of Mang Sukri to disappear as well.
"Like many people's wells dry up when it's dry. If it's dry, the people here buy bottled water, until now, because they are used to it," he continued.
Apart from acacia plantations around the village, there is also a sugarcane plantation PT which was established in 2014. However, in 2019 the permit was revoked and replaced with an oil palm plantation which is still in the process of obtaining permits. Even so, the PT has planted oil palm under the pretext of trial planting.
The existence of plans to create oil palm plantations makes residents worried that it will damage the environment even worse. Because homogeneous palm plants can absorb too much water. In the end, the residents of Jerambah Rengas did not remain silent. They staged a demonstration at the OKI Regent's office to seek justice. They also set up monitoring posts around village lands for fear that PT would enter their village area after a conflict occurred with residents.
Since a PT has been operating, said Mang Sukri, land fires have often occurred in their village. Whereas before there was a PT, land fires occurred during a very long dry season, or around nine months, as happened in the 1960s and 70s.
Since peatlands often catch fire, local residents stand guard in their plantations for fear that the fire will spread to the rubber plantations which are directly adjacent to the peatlands. “In 2019 my rubber plantation was hit by a peatland fire. That was my loss of tens of millions,” recalls Mang Sukri.
It's not only the people's gardens that are threatened, livestock such as buffalo are also affected by the peatland fires. According to local residents, many buffalo suddenly died on farms. The buffalo look for food and drink in the peatland area around the village. They think that PT deliberately dumped the fertilizer in the canals and into the river.
“That is to reduce operational costs to a minimum. Disposing of fertilizer into the canal makes fertilizer spread easily. This pollution can be seen from the peat water itself, which has not been polluted yet has a dark color and tends to be black. Now the water downstream of the river is clear," he said.
The impact of the pollution is also felt by residents who still use river water for bathing. According to residents, their bodies became itchy after using river water to bathe.
Canalization and normalization of the peat and rivers of Jeramba Rengas Village also affect the ecosystem of the peat area, such as the loss of freshwater fish species.
