Bapedal cautious on who lit forest fires<\/p>\n
BALIKPAPAN, East Kalimantan (JP): The fresh forest and brush
\nfires should not be blamed solely on slash-and-burn farmers, a
\ngovernment official said here yesterday.<\/p>\n
\"I won't agree if people, without hard evidence, put the blame
\nfor the fires on local people,\" Deputy Head of the Environmental
\nImpact Management Agency (Bapedal) Maj. Gen. Adang Ruchiatna
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Speaking to The Jakarta Post after inspecting the newest
\noutbreaks of fires in the province, Adang refused to speculate on
\nthe identity of the culprits of the latest fires.<\/p>\n
\"We don't want to hastily conclude who should be blamed
\nbecause we are still collecting data,\" Adang said.<\/p>\n
Last year, officials and forest concessionaires blamed the
\npervasive forest fires in Kalimantan and elsewhere in Indonesia
\nlargely on slash-and-burn farmers.<\/p>\n
Adang also refused to say if plantation companies should be
\nheld responsible.<\/p>\n
He said his team found 42 fires yesterday, smoldering in the
\nKutai National Park and Bukit Soeharto forest reserve.<\/p>\n
Accompanied by Bapedal's director for environmental damage
\ncontrol, Yon Artiono Arba'i, on his fact-finding mission, Adang
\nsaid the team had also inspected the recent outbreaks of forest
\nfires in South and West Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
Adang and Yon were sent by the National Coordinating Team for
\nFighting Forest and Land Fires to conduct ground checks on the
\nrecent forest fires in the province to confirm allegations that
\nthe fires were man-made.<\/p>\n
The coordinating team was set up by President Soeharto last
\nyear when the forest fires were declared a national disaster. The
\nteam was chaired by State Minister of Environment Sarwono
\nKusumaatmadja, who also heads Bapedal.<\/p>\n
Also yesterday, another visiting official said that three
\naircraft -- a Cassa, a Hercules C-130, and a Pilatus water bomber
\n-- would be deployed to East Kalimantan next Monday to fight the
\nfires.<\/p>\n
Burhan, an assistant to the Coordinating Minister of People's
\nWelfare, Azwar Anas, who also heads the National Disaster
\nManagement Coordinating Board, said artificial rain would also be
\ninitiated.<\/p>\n
Almost 1,400 hectares of land and forest have been razed in
\nthe fires of the past two weeks, resulting in haze that has
\ndisrupted flights at several airports in East Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
Antara reported Thursday that fires had also started in
\nCentral Kalimantan and smog had begun to loom over the capital
\nPalangkaraya.<\/p>\n
It said the thin smoke blanketing the area was coming from the
\nneighboring districts of Kapuas, Kotawaringin Barat and
\nKotawaringin Timur.<\/p>\n
However, there have not yet been any reports of flight delays.<\/p>\n
Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo said in the
\nEast Java town of Bojonegoro Thursday that 265,000 hectares of
\nforests were destroyed across the archipelago last year.<\/p>\n
Djamaludin, speaking at the opening of a new forest research
\nand development center in East Java, said the financial losses
\nresulting from the fires were Rp 260 billion ($26 million at the
\ncurrent rate).<\/p>\n
The fires, many of them deliberately started to clear land for
\nagricultural purposes, were blamed on the prolonged dry season
\ncaused by the El Nino weather phenomenon originating in the
\nPacific Ocean. (42\/aan)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bapedal-cautious-on-who-lit-forest-fires-1447893297",
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