TempoWitness: apps by the community and for the community

Forest and land fires happen regularly every year in Indonesia. Between January and September 2019, more than 857,000 hectares of forest and land had burned in Indonesia, the most in three years. Jambi Province is ranked as the fifth province in the country with the worst forest and land fires. According to data from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, 109 hectares of forest and land was burned in 2017 in Jambi Province and 1,577 hectares in 2018. In 2019, forest and land fires in Jambi Province increased significantly, with around 39,638 hectares burned between January and September 2019.

When a fire occurs, people living around the forest area are usually the first to detect it and are most affected. Community involvement in the prevention and monitoring of forest and land fires is essential. However, not all communities can be actively involved in monitoring and reporting incidents related to forest and land fires because not all community members have a smartphone or have received citizen journalism training.

To involve the public in monitoring and reporting on forest and land fires, Tempo Media created an open-access citizen journalism tool. The TempoWitness app allows people to submit information on forest and land fires, forest conservation efforts, and problems that they face, which is disseminated to the general public and policy makers at local and national levels.

Training on the TempoWitness app took place from 19 to 20 January 2020 in Kuala Tungkal, Jambi. Participants came from Muntialo, Beram Itam Kanan and Beram Itam Raya villages and included representatives from the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) in Tanjung Jabung Barat and the West Tanjung Jabung Forest Management Unit (KPH). The training was a continuation of the initial training carried out in December 2019.

Participant Dyah Ety from Muntialo Village was enthusiasticto participate in thetraining.. “As a mother who is also the secretary of the BPD [Village Consultative Body], I rarely get to participate in activities like this,” said Ety. “Apart from that, this training was perfect for me because, in the past, I wanted to be a journalist. Now there is an opportunity to write stories and contribute to preserving the environment where you live.“

This training is part of a series of activities to introduce the Forest Watcher platform, an application that provides an opportunity for all community members who have mobile phones to participate in providing early information about fires.

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[Disclaimer] The story was originally published in Bahasa Indonesia. It was translated into English and adjusted for style. The activities reported in this story were made possible with the support of the Global Forest Watch (GFW).