Borneo’s women volunteers fight raging wildfires
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More than 140 women in West Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia are volunteering as firefighters to protect their villages from increasingly severe wildfires.
These women, many of whom are also farmers and mothers, formed the group “The Power of Mama” to combat the blazes and prevent smoke from harming their communities.
The group patrols ten villages by motorcycle, locating and extinguishing small fires, and also educates neighbors about the dangers of burning land for palm oil plantations, a common practice that worsens the risk. The organization Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI) initiated the program in 2022, bringing together women from four villages in the Ketapang region and providing them with training, cell phones, and food allowances.
YIARI’s Mita Anggraini notes that these women feel a strong sense of ownership over the forests and are deeply committed to protecting them. This year’s fires are lasting longer than usual across Borneo and Sumatra, exacerbated by El Niño and a drought beginning in June. From January to July, approximately 202,000 hectares of land burned in Indonesia, with over 38,000 hectares affected in West Kalimantan alone, an area comparable in size to the greater Tokyo area.
The Indonesian forestry minister anticipates the fires may continue until early November, as the rainy season is delayed, and volunteers worry about the long-term recovery of forests and peatlands.
