Enviro News Asia, Palangka Raya — The Indonesian government has strengthened the Wildlife Rescue Task Force in Central Kalimantan to anticipate the impacts of forest and land fires (karhutla) on wildlife, particularly orangutans.
The initiative is being carried out through collaboration between the Ministry of Forestry, the Central Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), and several conservation organizations that have maintained long-standing partnerships in the region.
Minister of Forestry Raja Antoni said the task force was not newly established. Instead, existing cooperation between the Ministry of Forestry, BKSDA Central Kalimantan, the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF), the Orangutan Foundation International (OFI), and OFI UK is being strengthened in response to the ongoing wildfire threat.
“The impact of forest and land fires is not limited to humans but also affects wildlife. We are strengthening the existing task force and cooperation in Central Kalimantan. This is not a new task force, but an effort to reinforce a partnership that has been in place for a long time,” Raja Antoni said after inspecting orangutans at Nyaru Menteng on Saturday (Sept. 5).
The reinforcement includes medical preparedness. Raja Antoni said the government would ensure the availability of veterinarians and consider deploying additional veterinary personnel from outside Central Kalimantan if local capacity becomes insufficient.
“We have checked the availability of veterinarians, and each organization has its own veterinary team. If additional personnel are needed, we can deploy veterinarians from Java or other regions to support the teams here,” he said.
Medical equipment, including oxygen cylinders and nebulizers, is also being prepared to treat respiratory problems among orangutans potentially caused by exposure to wildfire smoke.
The measures are considered important because the impacts of forest and land fires extend beyond direct exposure to flames.
Raja Antoni said the task force would focus on rescuing wildlife affected by the fires, while the government and other stakeholders continue efforts to prevent and suppress fires from spreading.
“While we continue working to extinguish the fires and control the smoke, we also need to strengthen cooperation and collaboration to prevent the fires from affecting large numbers of orangutans in Central Kalimantan,” he said.
