Government plans new land clearing method<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government plans to introduce a new land
\nclearing method this year that does not involve burning the
\ntrees.<\/p>\n
Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo said that the
\nmethod will be tried at 120 land clearing projects.<\/p>\n
\"The method is more expensive and more time consuming,\"
\nSiswono said during a review meeting on the new method at his
\noffice on Friday, Antara reported. \"But it is environmentally
\nsound and smokeless.\"<\/p>\n
The previous method of burning trees was blamed for the thick
\nhaze that covered most of Kalimantan and part of Sumatra,
\nSingapore and Malaysia for more than three months last year. It
\ndisrupted air services, created health hazards and prompted the
\ngovernments of Singapore and Malaysia to demand Indonesia take
\npreventive steps.<\/p>\n
The land clearing method being considered involves chopping
\nthe trees down and using them for pulp. This will involve greater
\ncosts and manpower Frans J. Daywin form the Bogor Agriculture
\nInstitute and Sumangat form Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta
\nagreed during the meeting.<\/p>\n
Both men concluded that the burning method is cheaper but
\ncountered that these projects should not only be looked at form
\neconomic terms but also from the social and environmental views.<\/p>\n
Sumangat warned that the new method requires huge logistical
\nback up and that the workers will have to be trained to gather
\nthe wood they have chopped as efficiently as possible.<\/p>\n
Daywin calculates the cost of the new method to be about Rp
\n1.3 billion ($590) per hectare. The burning method costs Rp 600
\nmillion.<\/p>\n
The United States and Malaysia already employ the chopping
\nmethod which is highly recommended by the United States-based
\nInternational Ad hock Land Clearing Development.<\/p>\n
The new method has commercial value because the cut wood can
\nbe gathered and sold to the pulp and paper industry.<\/p>\n
Calculating whether the costs of transporting the wood will
\ncover the expense of the extra manpower and extra time needed for
\nthe new method.<\/p>\n
\"This method is technically feasible and it is also socially
\nacceptable because it does less harm to the environment. But we
\nalso need to study the commercial viability,\" Siswono said.<\/p>\n
He said he doubted that the going price of Rp 70 a kilogram of
\nchips will be sufficient to cover the costs of gathering and
\ntransporting them to the plant.<\/p>\n
However, Gatot Ibnu Santoso, the Director of Pulp and Paper
\nIndustry at the Ministry of Industry, told the meeting that
\ngathering the wood has potential value because the government is
\nincreasingly barring pulp and paper manufacturers from using
\nchips obtained from natural forests.<\/p>\n
Siswono said he has assigned Udju Djuana, the Director for
\nField Preparation at the Ministry of Transmigration, to further
\nstudy the commercial viability of the method.<\/p>\n
The ministry, he said, is willing to subsidize the cost of
\ntransporting the chips. (29)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/government-plans-new-land-clearing-method-1447893297",
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