Indonesia Affirms that Forest and Land Fire Research Must be Data-Based

Jakarta, MINA – The Indonesian government emphasizes that research conducted on the occurrence of forest and land fires in Indonesia must be based on data, not just a false narrative.

The GOI refers to the article at The Conversation wrote by David Gaveau on 17 December 2021 (https://theconversation.com/alternative-data-setting-the-record-straight-on-the-scale-of-indonesias-2019-fires-173593) which mentioned about the events taken place two years earlier.

Head of Bureau for International Cooperation (KLN) MoEF, Dida Migfar Ridha says it began with David Gaveau published false report just prior to the COP25.

“The timing of which was clearly intended to undermine the credibility of the efforts made by the Indonesian Government to address deforestation and forest and land fires issues,” Dida said.

Subsequent to this report publication, the employers of this individual, CIFOR, have regretted the timing and “missteps in prematurely publishing analysis of this year’s fires “; that the research referred to had not been subject to the “normal scrutiny of the peer-review process carried out by scientific journals” and “that damage to primary forests was remarkably low” in Indonesia.

Dida said, in addressing challenges to the environment, it is important to differentiate between false narrative and science-based research.

“The GOI respectfully suggests that David Gaveau should seek guidance on the best practices in the scientific field,” he says. (R/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)