Indonesia's 3-Point Plan to Save Orangutan Haven from Fire

Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni has announced three priority actions to combat forest and land fires threatening Tanjung Puting National Park, a protected area in Central Kalimantan famous for its orangutans [264587]. The first task is to extinguish fires still burning, the second is to prevent new fires from starting, and the third is to restore damaged land after the flames are out [264587].

Tanjung Puting is a national park and key conservation site home to one of the world's largest wild orangutan populations [264587]. The government has not yet said how long the operation will take or how much land has burned [264587].

President Joko Widodo personally directed that firefighting efforts at the park receive top priority, according to Antara news agency [260810]. Firefighters are battling blazes across the 415,000-hectare park in Central Kalimantan [260810]. Authorities have deployed water-bombing aircraft and additional ground crews to contain the fires, which have spread rapidly during the dry season [260810].

The park is a major tourist destination and a center for orangutan conservation and research [260810].

Across Indonesia, fires are spreading across forests and farmland, threatening wildlife, farmland, and air quality [263311]. The fires pose a direct challenge to the government's environmental and disaster response policies [263311].

In West Kalimantan, the West Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) and the IAR Indonesia Foundation have rescued 46 Bornean orangutans from fires in the region [259815]. The Bornean orangutan is a critically endangered species, and its population continues to decline due to habitat loss and fires [259815].

Critically endangered orangutans have been released back into the wild in Borneo after being rescued from intense wildfires that destroyed their habitat in August and September [260168].

Indonesia has deployed 60,177 personnel to battle wildfires across the country, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya announced [260800]. The firefighters come from multiple government agencies, working together to contain the blazes [260800].

Thick orange smog covered the Indonesian city of Palangka Raya as nearby wildfires continued to burn, with residents describing a strong sense of having "nowhere to escape" [262468].

Indonesian police are increasingly focusing their forest and land fire investigations on companies, with 92 cases involving corporate suspects, signaling a tougher stance against businesses accused of starting fires [263323].