婆羅洲女性志工投入撲滅11年來最嚴重野火

Willy Kurniawan 報導By Willy Kurniawan

印尼吉打邦9月24日（路透）—— 印尼發生十多年來最嚴重野火，婆羅洲島上空一片橘紅、濃煙沉重，大片森林被燒成焦黑，許多當地居民出現呼吸道問題。KETAPANG, Indonesia, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The sky over Indonesia's Borneo island is orange and heavy with smoke as a result of the country's worst wildfires in more than a decade, which have left swathes of forest blackened and many locals suffering from respiratory problems.

農民朱尼亞妮還注意到另一件事：鳥兒安靜了下來，成了大火與令人窒息霧霾的受害者。Another thing farmer Juniarni has noticed is the birds have fallen silent, victims of the fires and choking smog.

她居住的西加里曼丹省雙溪阿萬基里村，平常到處都有鳥，鳥鳴聲不斷提醒人們牠們的存在。她說，如今只剩寂靜，這是火災對環境造成衝擊的另一個跡象。Typically, the birds are everywhere in the village of Sungai Awan Kiri in West Kalimantan province where she lives, their chirping a constant reminder of their presence. Now, there is only silence, she says, another sign of the impact of the fires on the environment.

48歲的三寶媽朱尼亞妮說：「牠們沒有做錯任何事。為什麼牠們成了受害者？」和許多印尼人一樣，她只使用單名。她說：「我們四周到處都在燒。」"They haven't done anything wrong. Why are they the victims?" said 48-year-old mother-of-three Juniarni, who uses one name like many Indonesians. "There were fires everywhere around us."

乾季一向有火災風險。今年火勢延燒時間比往常更久，尤其是在婆羅洲與蘇門答臘兩座島上，又因造成乾旱的聖嬰現象而加劇，促使各方努力控制火勢蔓延。Fires are always a risk in the dry season. This year they have been raging for longer than usual, especially on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, and have been made worse by the drought-inducing El Niño weather pattern, prompting efforts to control their spread.

參與行動的包括朱尼亞妮與另外140多名女性，她們組成名為「媽媽的力量」的全女性消防團體。她與其他女性巡邏10個村莊時，逐漸注意到鳥鳴聲消失；這些成員包括農民與全職媽媽。That includes Juniarni and over 140 other women who make up the all-women firefighting group called The Power of Mama. She noticed the gradual loss of birdsong as she patrolled a series of 10 villages with the other women, who include farmers and stay-at-home mums.

這些無薪志工穿著紅色防護衣，騎機車巡邏，記錄熱點並滅火。這些女性表示，她們也勸鄰居不要用火清地來種植油棕；油棕是許多農民的主要作物，而這種做法會增加發生更多火災的風險。Wrapped in red protective suits, the unpaid volunteers patrol on motorcycles to record hotspots and put out fires. The women said they also advise neighbours against using fire to clear land for palm oil plantations, a staple crop for many farmers, because the practice adds to the risk of more blazes.

守護森林SAFEGUARDING THE FORESTS

2022年，非政府環境組織印尼自然復育倡議基金會（Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia，YIARI）從吉打邦地區4個村莊召集這些女性，並訓練她們如何滅火。In 2022, non-government environmental group Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI), which translates to Indonesia Nature Rehabilitation Initiative Foundation, brought the women together from four villages in the Ketapang region and trained them in how to fight fires.

「這些女性覺得森林是她們的，並全心全意守護森林，」該團體督導、YIARI的米塔・安格萊尼說。她並補充，YIARI提供她們手機與午餐津貼。YIARI不允許這些女性處理大型火災。"These women felt like the forests are theirs, safeguarding them with all their heart," said YIARI's Mita Anggraini, the group's supervisor, adding YIARI provides them with mobile phones and lunch allowances. YIARI does not permit the women to handle big fires.

米塔說，這些女性擔任志工的原因之一，是希望降低火災季期間籠罩島上多處的濃煙對許多人造成呼吸道問題的風險。Mita said one reason the women volunteer is to reduce the risk of respiratory problems for many people from the thick smoke that blankets many parts of the island during the fire season.

46歲的消防志工艾莉・瑪莉娜說，她的孩子過去曾罹患呼吸道感染。Firefighting volunteer Elly Marlina, 46, said her children had suffered from respiratory infections in the past.

她說：「他們花了一年多才康復。」"It took over a year for them to recover," she said.

38歲、育有兩名子女的農民伊爾瑪說，撲滅看得見的火勢只是挑戰的一半。原因是火也會在婆羅洲的泥炭地底下悶燒；泥炭極易燃，在乾燥條件下始終存在火災風險。Putting out the fires that are visible is only half the challenge, said farmer Irma, a 38-year-old mother of two. That's because the fires also smoulder underground in the peat of Borneo, which is highly combustible and a constant fire risk in the dry conditions.

她說：「我們的土地最容易起火。今年尤其糟，因為我們的水源都乾涸了。」"Our land was most susceptible to fires," she said. "This year is especially worse because our water supplies dry up."

印尼林業部長表示，由於雨季較晚到來，這次火災可能比往常持續更久，延燒到11月初。Indonesia's forestry minister said the fires could go longer than usual, this time until early November, with the late arrival of the rainy season.

印尼是災害頻仍的群島國家，6月起乾燥天氣開始，野火蔓延因此加劇；印尼已部署50多架飛機進行空中灑水與人工增雨作業。The spread of the wildfires in the disaster-prone archipelago has been exacerbated by the onset of dry weather from June, with Indonesia deploying more than 50 aircraft for water bombing and cloud seeding activities.

政府數據顯示，今年1月至7月，印尼約20萬2000公頃（將近50萬英畝）土地遭火焚毀，面積幾乎相當於東京都會區。西加里曼丹是受創最嚴重的省份，燒毀面積超過3萬8000公頃。From January to July this year, fires burned around 202,000 hectares (almost 500,000 acres) of land in Indonesia, an area almost the size of metropolitan Tokyo. West Kalimantan was the worst-hit province, with more than 38,000 hectares burned, government data shows.

艾莉說，今年火災比平常嚴重，並影響仍在努力從過往季節性火災中恢復的森林與泥炭地，令人擔心它們的未來。Elly says the fires are worse than normal this year and affecting forests and peatland still struggling to recover from previous seasonal fires, prompting concern about their future.

「我們的希望正在消退，因為如你所見，已經沒有森林了。」"Our hope is fading, because as you can see, there are no more forests."

（Yuddy Cahya Budiman 補充報導；Stanley Widianto 撰稿；Neil Fullick 編輯）(Additional reporting by Yuddy Cahya Budiman; Writing by Stanley Widianto; Editing by Neil Fullick)