Forest and Land Fires (Karhutla) again burned more than 1 million hectares of land in Indonesia in 2023. According to SIPONGI data for 2023, 1,161,193 hectares of land burned throughout this year.
The worsening forest and land fires have raised many questions, particularly regarding the underlying causes behind this surge. One emerging suspicion is a link to the political climate leading up to the 2024 elections. Is the election really the primary trigger for forest and land fires? Let's explore this further.
According to data from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry's (KLHK) Forest and Land Fire Monitoring System (Sipongi), over the past ten years (2013-2023), forest and land fires in Indonesia have burned 9,623,042 hectares of forest. The pattern of forest and land fires affecting over 1 million hectares was detected during election years, namely 2014, 2015, 2019, and 2023.
In 2014, coinciding with the presidential election between Jokowi-JK and Prabowo-Hatta, forest and land fires destroyed 1,777,577 hectares of forest. In 2015, which also marked the simultaneous regional elections in various regions, fires burned 2,611,411 hectares, making it one of the worst forest and land fire disasters in Indonesian history.
In 2019, coinciding with the presidential elections between Jokowi-Amin and Prabowo-Sandi, forest and land fires destroyed 1,649,258 hectares. Meanwhile, although not an election year, forest and land fires also occurred in 2023, destroying 1,161,193 hectares. This is believed to be due to the heated political climate that year, leading up to the 2024 elections.
