Story

Two Lives of Fire Giant (bahasa Indonesia)

September 18, 2020 | Tempo, Betahita
By
Kennial Caroline Laia and Agoeng Wijaya
Forest and peat fires typically take place in Sumatra and Borneo, and are often linked to slash-and-burn practices to clear areas for palm cultivation and illegal logging. Image by daus85 / Shutterstock. Indonesia, undated.

Forest and peat fires typically take place in Sumatra and Borneo, and are often linked to slash-and-burn practices to clear areas for palm cultivation and illegal logging. Image by daus85 / Shutterstock. Indonesia, undated.

Sesil Maharani and Hafid Darma were still awake in front of their laptops Thursday, September 3. The two staff members of the Data Division of the Auriga Nusantara still operate the Quantum Geographic Information System. Other members of the Butogeni team gather around, looking at the work files of the past six months stored in the software for spatial data analysis.

"Butogeni," which means fire giant, is the name of the WhatsApp conversation group for the collaboration team covering the 2019 forest and land fires (karhutla). The WA group members are journalists from Tempo, Betahita, and Mongabay, as well as a number of researchers at the Data Directorate of the Auriga Nusantara. The working document, from the analysis of the Sentinel-2 satellite imagery to the reports from the field checks, must be double-checked that morning to ensure that the confirmation letters sent to the three companies contain the complete finding of the collaboration team.

Kolaborasi media lintas negara dan kelompok masyarakat sipil mengungkap dugaan keterlibatan
korporasi dalam bencana kebakaran hutan 2019 di Indonesia. Kerja setahun berbagi keahlian.

SESIL Maharani dan Hafid Darma masih terjaga di depan laptop mereka, Kamis, 3 September lalu. Dua anggota staf Direktorat Data Auriga Nusantara itu masih mengoperasikan Quantum Geographic Information System. Anggota lain tim Butogeni meriung bersama mereka, mencermati berkas-berkas hasil kerja enam bulan terakhir yang tersimpan di perangkat lunak untuk analisis data spasial tersebut.

Butogeni, yang berarti raksasa api, merupakan nama grup percakapan WhatsApp tim kolaborasi peliputan kebakaran hutan dan lahan (karhutla) 2019. Isinya wartawan Tempo, Betahita, dan Mongabay, serta sejumlah peneliti di Direktorat Data Auriga Nusantara. Berkas kerja tersebut, dari hasil analisis terhadap citra satelit Sentinel-2 sampai laporan pengecekan lapangan, kudu dicek ulang dinihari itu untuk memastikan surat konfirmasi yang akan dikirim ke tiga perusahaan memuat lengkap temuan tim kolaborasi.

To read the full version of this article in bahasa Indonesia, visit Tempo or Betahita's websites.