Cries about climate change issues have grown louder recently, showing the increasing importance of the forest of Indonesia. The rate of deforestation (caused by forest logging), the rate of forest and land fires are parallel to the carbon emission; which we all know is the primary cause of the global warming and climate change. Recently, the president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono points out that the government plans to reduce the hotspots by 50% by the end of the 20071. Is it actually possible?

Forest and Land Fire in the Last 10 Years
 
To assess the chances of achieving the 50% goal, we have to look back on similar cases in the previous years and devise a strategy to reach the target.
 
Between the year 1997 and 2006, the highest number of hotspots occurred in 1997. This marks the huge fire occurred in that year. Even though the number of hotspots has decreased since 1997, it gradually rose again from 2001 to 2006, and it almost reached the record of the 1997.   The number of hotspots in 2006 ranked second to the 1997. Therefore, it can be said that the number of hotspot in last 10 years tends to increase.
 
The cyclic occurrence of the hotspots in the last 10 years means that the forest fires are recurring annual events that never end. And some “regular” regions or regions that always contribute significant numbers of hotspots have been identified.
 
The largest accumulation of the hotspots is in the Kalimantan Tengah province, followed by Riau, Sumatera Selatan, Kalimantan Barat, and Kalimantan Timur. The “Big Five” provinces contribute up to 68.08% of all hotspots in Indonesia. All of them are the main causes of the deforestation, besides the illegal logging, and the land conversion. In later decades, the fires also creep in to non-forest area.
 
Cries about climate change issues have grown louder recently, showing the increasing importance of the forest of Indonesia. The rate of deforestation (caused by forest logging), the rate of forest and land fires are parallel to the carbon emission; which we all know is the primary cause of the global warming and climate change. Recently, the president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono points out that the government plans to reduce the hotspots by 50% by the end of the 20071. Is it actually possible?