Combating Fires, Time to Listen to People

The revised version of this article has been published on The Jakarta Post paper edition, October 07, 2019 https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2019/10/07/combating-fires-time-to-listen-to-people.html 

Indonesia is under haze threats from peatland and forest fires in these past few days. This is definitely not a pleasant yet not a surprising story from the country since this experience has been prolongedly happening. While all debates are focused on the government and the president’s roles in combating fires, very lack of attention is given to the people’s perspectives.

It is still unclear the causes of the fires. However, listening and understanding perspectives of people living around affected areas is really important in tackling fires as well in preventing the same one in the future. The same problems happened back there in 2016 and findings from an independent research institution, Reality Check Approach (RCA), suggest some important points from people’s perspectives regarding peatland and forest fires.

Perceiving the Problem in People’s Eyes

While climate activists warn the country of the bigger possible effects of the haze, interestingly people living around affected areas do not really perceive the threat as something essentials in their life. The study findings explain that the effect of fires only causing several minor issues for people. For instance, in the most affected problem, health, people only encounter minor discomforts like coughs or poor visibility. They do not perceive those as serious problems. Whenever the haze appears, they just need to wear the masks or kept staying at home.

A similar view of the basic education process. Students mostly enjoy the given holiday because of the haze and some schools just simply postpone their operational times to two or three hours later. There is no further consideration that the haze will affect their long-term educational process.

These situations clearly explain that there are missing points in explaining the dangerous effects of the haze on the people. This is also because of limited sources and explanation from provided media and local service providers, like teachers or healthcare officers. As the result, people do not really perceive the forest and peatland fires as something importantly affect their lives.

An exception is made when it comes to the economic situation. People start to think about the haze effects when it comes to affecting their economic circles like crop failures or floods. Forest fires usually obstruct the sunlight this affects the agricultural process and at most cases result on crop failures. The same problem with the floods. Burning forests causing floods and impacting people’s agricultural land.

Different Legal Frameworks

Lack of socialization in explaining the long-term bigger hazardous impacts of haze is also accompanied by the different perception of legal frameworks regarding peatland and forest fires. There is no universal legal framework within the country and even within the same region. It is very common that between one village and another have different regulations and punishment mechanism. One village head might allow farmers to burn and open the land for several hectares while some totally ban it. The confusion extended as local authorities and government officials might have different explanation and perception regarding law enforcement.

This situation is even more complicated since people have been traditionally practicing slash-and-burn agricultural mechanism for generations. People acknowledge the danger and effects of this practice, however, this is the most affordable and effective way for them. Consequently, they urge for a distinction of law enforcement between fires caused by small farmers and fires caused by big companies. The argument is people have been doing this for generations and they always undertake it in a controlled way.

Another problem was on the coping mechanism. People have different understandings of the utilization of the village fund. While some village heads argue that they are only supposed to use the fund only for infrastructure development, some are left with confusion whether it is allowed or not to use the fund for haze mitigation process. Consequently, the village fund is not properly utilized for combating fires and creating a coping mechanism.

Listening to People

It has been clear that there are different values and missing information between people living around fire areas and stakeholders and people in general. Contextualizing the mitigation process with people living around affected areas is really important since they are the outer guards once fires happen.

Increasing socialization and bringing down the issue through people’s lens are not the only thing that must be done. Since the danger is already real, providing a better risk mitigation process is necessary. The village fund cannot be left fighting alone while there is a lack of understanding among people of how to utilize the fund for the coping mechanism. Assisted programs in this sector are needed. In the bigger scale, the government also needs to provide and ensure a universal legal framework regarding fires.

Rationalizing the non-environmentally friendly agricultural practices is not an option that should be supported as well. Programs and socialization on agriculture need to shift their attention from training and free seeds to more alternative environmental friendly farming practices. People are definitely open for innovation as long as it aligns with their logics. To change the behavior, we need to understand and change the context.

Photo source: https://medium.com/p/1c6c82963efc/edit