Haze of smoke, forest fires<\/p>\n
Although some regions struggled through floods and landslides,
\nseveral areas in Indonesia suffered forest fires, which have
\nbecome routine during incidents during long spells of the dry
\nseason. In some areas of Sumatra, such as North Sumatra, West
\nSumatra, Riau, Jambi and South Sumatra, hundreds of hot spots
\nhave been spotted. Riau is the area most adversely effected:
\nearly last week, it was monitoring some 870 hot spots in the
\nregion. The result of all these fires is a thick haze of smoke
\nhas hit the region and its neighbors.<\/p>\n
Forest fires are routine incidents that occur every year. The
\nfires may be caused by natural or human factors. To clear land
\nfor plantations, according to the executive director of the North
\nSumatra chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment,
\nEfendi Panjaitan, there are indications that some plantation
\ncompanies make use of a logging-and-burning system.<\/p>\n
If the haze in the region is attributable to the burning of
\nforest areas, especially protected forest areas, we will all be
\nthe sadder. Indonesia, famous for its tropical forests, which
\nmeasure the largest in the world after Brazil, has lost millions
\nof hectares of land because of the burning of forest areas.<\/p>\n
Still fresh in our minds are the forest fires of 1997, which
\ncompelled us to accept fire-fighting volunteers from Malaysia.
\nThe inability of the country to deal with the problem remains
\ncontroversial; is Indonesia incapable or is it just unwilling?<\/p>\n
Without proper law enforcement and necessary steps by the
\ngovernment to deal with forest fires, next year will bring with
\nit more reports about forest fires and the accompanying haze.<\/p>\n
-- Suara Karya, Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/haze-of-smoke-forest-fires-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }