Note: This event will take place on 8/14 at 10:00 AM UTC+8.
In early July, the province of Central Kalimantan has declared a state of emergency due to massive forest fire in the area. A similar disaster has also threatened other provinces with large peatland areas, such as Riau and South Sumatra. The risk of an increasing number of forest fires is estimated to reach its peak during the drought season in August-September this year.
The Indonesian government has been deploying efforts to combat the fire since last year when President Joko Widodo signed a moratorium policy for primary and peatland forests. Nevertheless, the current Covid-19 crisis might adversely affect the ongoing efforts to combat forest fires this year. The government has reduced the budget for forest fire mitigation and relocated the fund for the pandemic mitigation programs. President Jokowi is also planning to disband the Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG) and reassign its tasks to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) and the Ministry of Forestry. As a result, many disaster-prone areas in Indonesia are facing double risks of deteriorating public health quality due to both haze and coronavirus.
This webinar will discuss the ongoing effort in managing a sequence of crises of peatland forest fires and the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. The speaker, Nazir Foead, will address the challenges in handling the crises as well as the future of peatland restoration and forest management in the country.
Nazir Foead is the Head of the Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG), Indonesia. He was appointed by President Joko Widodo to lead the restoration of 2 million hectares of Indonesia’s peatland. Prior to his current position, Nazir joined the Climate and Land Use Alliance as the Indonesia Initiative Coordinator, to direct grants and support for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Indonesia. He was former Conservation Director of WWF Indonesia, managing over 300 staff in 26 conservation sites. Nazir graduated from the University of Gottingen, Germany, and Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent, United Kingdom.
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