Hazy problem<\/p>\n
It's that time of the year again. Haze, due to billowing smoke
\nfrom forest fires, has clouded many parts of the archipelago,
\nparticularly in Sumatra and Kalimantan. The haze is wreaking
\nhavoc with people's daily activities and becoming a health
\nhazard. The lack of visibility has also disrupted flights and
\nshipping services.<\/p>\n
Our neighbors -- Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei -- are also
\naffected whenever the wind blows in their direction. So far they
\nhave not complained too loudly.<\/p>\n
As usual, the long dry summer has perpetuated the haze
\nproblems. But there seems to be no doubt today about the cause of
\nthese forest fires. They were deliberately lit to clear land and
\nmake way for new plantations, timber estates and new settlements
\nunder the government's transmigration program.<\/p>\n
The fires got out of control because the dry weather makes the
\nentire forest highly flammable. The sad reality is that this is a
\nman-made, and really unnecessary, tragedy.<\/p>\n
The fires come at a time when Indonesia has been widely
\ncriticized for the way it manages, or critics would say
\nmismanages, its forestry resources.<\/p>\n
It is abhorrent to learn that the practice of deliberately
\nsetting fires to clear up tracts of forest land is still
\npermitted. Forest experts argue that the burning method is the
\nfastest and cheapest but one does not have to be an expert to
\nknow that it is destructive too.<\/p>\n
We draw little comfort from the government's threat to revoke
\nthe licenses of contractors who continue to set these fires. The
\nblazes have already spread and gotten out of control. The threat,
\neven if heeded, is only good at discouraging new fires from being
\nstarted.<\/p>\n
What we really want to hear is what the government is doing
\nabout the fires raging in parts of Indonesia right now. In spite
\nof their reoccurrence, the nation appears to be completely
\nhelpless to prevent forest fires.<\/p>\n
Our best hope is for the rain to fall soon and extinguish the
\nsmoldering fires. Judging from the exceptionally long drought
\nseasons in the past, rain will not start falling until late
\nSeptember or October, if we're lucky. There is a possibility we
\nmay have to wait until November for relief.<\/p>\n
It is deja vu. Every few years or so, we seem to have this
\nproblem. And each time there is little anyone can do except to
\nwait for a downpour of rain. The only consolation today is that
\nthere is a greater consensus about who the culprits are.<\/p>\n
In the past, everyone blamed everybody else. The government
\nblamed the slash-and-burn nomadic farmers for causing the fires;
\nnon-governmental organizations blamed the forest concessionaires
\nand plantation companies for their reckless practices of burning
\nforests and the government for their lax control of these
\ncompanies; and the forest estates and plantation companies
\npointed their fingers at the weather.<\/p>\n
The nomadic tribes in Kalimantan, in spite of their slash-and-
\nburn farming practices, have been ruled out as the perpetrators
\nof these fires.<\/p>\n
Studies have shown that these tribes have developed a knack
\nfor picking the right time and place for their burning without
\nupsetting nature. They have lived on the land for generations and
\nare unlikely to jeopardize their own survival by recklessly
\nsetting fires.<\/p>\n
Thus the onus for preventing future fires falls on contractors
\n-- usually large companies licensed to clear forest land -- and
\nthe government -- whose duty is to supervise their activities.<\/p>\n
As we wait and pray for the rain, the government should start
\nthinking of ways of preventing future forest fires. One effective
\nstep would be to toughen the legislation and regulations on
\nclearing forest land.<\/p>\n
The answer seems easy, but the political will to bring big
\nbusinesses under control seems harder to come by.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/hazy-problem-1447899208",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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