Expert calls for long term solutions to forest fires<\/p>\n
BOGOR, West Java (JP): With the help of more than a dozen
\ncountries, Indonesia is currently going all-out in its fight
\nagainst spreading brush and forest fires.<\/p>\n
Dr Neil Byron is assistant director general of the Center for
\nInternational Forestry Research (CIFOR), based in Bogor, working
\non international policy issues. He gave his views about the
\nongoing fires and called for long-term solutions in the following
\nquestion and answer.<\/p>\n
Question: How much is really known about the origins of the
\nforest fires?<\/p>\n
Answer: We do know that this is an El Nio year. A hot, dry
\nsummer across Southeast Asia was predicted at the beginning of
\nthe year. Yet virtually no precautions were taken before the
\nonset of the drought.<\/p>\n
Fires were lit as usual across Indonesia during this season by
\nmigrants, small farmers and large plantation companies alike. But
\nthere are no data on how many fires would normally occur in an
\naverage year in Indonesia, or what area is burned annually. No
\none can say how much worse 1997 is than "average" because, in
\neffect, there are no data.<\/p>\n
Q: We can guess the area burning must be huge. What extent of
\nland and forest is really on fire?<\/p>\n
A: No one really knows how much is burning or has been burned
\nalready this year, or even where the fires are now, let alone how
\nfast they are spreading.<\/p>\n
No one really knows what sort of land is on fire. Media
\nreports have confused virgin rain forests, peat swamp forests,
\ngrasslands, and areas officially zoned and sanctioned for
\nconversion to oil palm, rubber or timber plantations.<\/p>\n
It makes a great difference not only to the social and
\neconomic costs of the fires, but even to the type of damage
\ncaused.<\/p>\n
One reason the smoke-haze is more damaging to public
\nhealth than usual is that many of these are "dirty fires".
\nThere's a lot of soil, green vegetation and debris casually and
\ncarelessly pushed into heaps to be burned by "fly-by-night"
\ncontractors working for estate companies. The sort of smoke
\ndepends on the type of vegetation fuel as well as the intensity
\nof the fire.<\/p>\n
Q: Who is lighting the fires?<\/p>\n
A: Because we are not sure where the fires are, we can only guess
\nwho lit them and why. Almost all rural people have reasons for
\nburning, and very few have any reason to not burn or to help
\nprevent, let alone extinguish, these fires. Neighbors complain
\nvociferously, but even Indonesians who are inconvenienced or
\nthreatened by the fires consider them "normal".<\/p>\n
Q: What do we really know about the fires?<\/p>\n
A: Just informed guesses... After the great fires in Kalimantan
\nin 1983, which was another extreme El Nio event, there was a
\nflurry of interest in fire prevention, detection, management and
\nsuppression. But this was not enough to lead to a system for
\ncollecting information about fires, or for prevention, or for
\npublic education about the dangers of fires in extreme weather
\nconditions.<\/p>\n
The 1991 El Nio produced pretty bad fires across much of
\nIndonesia, but also little interest in reform or developing a
\nnational fire management system.<\/p>\n
The 1994 El Nio was a bit worse -- Singapore was blanketed
\nwith smoke while airports across the region were closed for a
\nmonth. But what did Indonesia learn from this? Very little.<\/p>\n
Q: What about the consequences of these fires on people and the
\nloss of biodiversity in forests?<\/p>\n
A: We can see all the different types of costs: the closed
\nairports, whole towns shut down, not to mention the loss of
\nlivelihoods for millions of people.<\/p>\n
But we really have very little idea of the relative magnitudes
\nof all these social, economic, public health and environmental
\ncosts.<\/p>\n
Then there are all the direct costs of the feeble and probably
\nfutile attempts at suppression -- the firefighters, aircraft,
\ncloud seeding...<\/p>\n
There are the enduring costs of peat swamplands being
\npermanently destroyed as well. One thing we can be sure of is
\nthat most of these costs are not borne by the people who light
\nthe fires.<\/p>\n
Q: What to do next?<\/p>\n
A: Tropical forest fires are often very different. Not all of the
\nfires are accidental or out of control. Many are deliberate and
\nquite targeted for land clearing. Many western techniques of
\nsuppression will be quite ineffective in facing the intensity of
\nthe very hot wildfires, and even less so when the peat ignites.<\/p>\n
It is not just the vegetation above the ground on fire, but
\nthe ground itself is burning. It will continue to burn until the
\nswamps are inundated in the next wet season. Such fires cannot be
\nput out by fire hoses, aerial drops or light rain from cloud
\nseeding.<\/p>\n
Q: What is your overall conclusion?<\/p>\n
A: The challenge is to learn from this year's disaster, and to
\ndevelop a much clearer picture of what really happened and why.
\nEven more importantly, we should try to learn from this nightmare
\nto ensure that the same problems do not recur again the next time
\nthere is an El Nio which will probably be in about five to seven
\nyears.<\/p>\n
It would be tragic for the people and the country if we all
\nfail to learn and take effective measures before it is too late
\nfor the great Indonesian fires of 2002!<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/expert-calls-for-long-term-solutions-to-forest-fires-1447893297",
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