According to the article written by Channel NewsAsia from Pulang Pisau, middle Kalimantan of Indonesia, “In order to secure the amount of moisture in peatland in Indonesia peatland, new law is established in the near future that obligates landowners to install a water level measurement system.”, the new bill was to be signed by the Minister of Environment and Forestry within a few weeks. Nazir Foead, director of BRG, said when he visited Kalimantan, “BRG is now discussing with agent of Ministry of Environment and Forestry about details of technical guideline of restoration of peatlands.” And he added, “I’m waiting the signment of Minister. Since this bill is regulation by Ministry of Environment and Forestry, it has coercive force. ” BRG is government agency which is established in January 2016, the next year of disastrous forest fire of Indonesia. The mission of this agency is to restore damaged 250 million hectare peatlands. The half of the peatlands are owned by private landowners such as plantation company. These landowners should comply the new law by monitoring groundwater level of their own peatlands by some water level monitoring system. More than 20 water level meter (note 1) has already running at fire-prone areas. The meter measures water level each 10 minutes, and sends it to server, and the water level data can be checked by web site. By Dr. Aswin, Director of Fire and Forest Restoration Center, University of Palangkaraya, “If the groundwater level is under 40 centimeter and the soil moisture is under 40%, the possibility of fire rises.” And director Nazir said, “At the diverse area, sometimes many water level meter is required. Otherwise two or three water level meter meter is enough. If the size of landowner company is small and the company’s area is already covered by other water level measuring system, the company sometimes don’t have to install water level meter.” The technical guideline is expected to be completed at first quarter of this year. And environmental preservationist argue that the water level measurement not only helps for early detection of fire, but also as evidence that the landowner failed to maintain moisture of peatlands. President Jocowi is interested in this technical development, and required that this information be available in his crisis management office.And president told his affiliate that he doesn’t want to repeat the disastrous fire no more. This year is predicted It is predicted that this year will dry from 2016 and fire-prone area is found at Reau. So an emergency of forest fires was declared last month.

note1: The water level measurement system means SESAME system.  SESAME is introduced by a project team of SATREPS of JICA/JST. The core of the team is Hokkaido University, and the main purpose is to control fire and CO2 of Indonesia.   After that, we received business investigation of ODA, and now, SESAME is introduced by Perum Jasa Tirta 2 (PJT2) and BADAN PENGAJIAN DAN PENERAPAN TEKNOLOGI (BPPT.)