Concrete plans needed to stop forest fires

By Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): The forest fires specter has returned, and environmental activists are sounding the alarm as fires sporadically break out in Sumatran forests.

Weary neighboring countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, are nervously hoping Indonesia will be able to deal with the almost yearly environmental calamity, despite the economic and political crisis.

The countries were badly affected by last year's dry season fires, which destroyed an estimated five million hectares of forests, mainly in Kalimantan and Sumatra.

According to experts, Indonesian tropical forests do not easily burn as a result of natural reasons. Careless practices, such as the slash-and-burn farming system and land clearing by way of setting fire to forests have made forests susceptible to fire.

To the amazement of many, forest fires have become an annual "routine", but the authorities are yet to plan an appropriate coping strategy.

Longgena Ginting of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) blamed the fires largely on the slash-and-burn techniques used by plantation companies when they clear land for projects.

"The illegal technique is practiced because it's cheap and easy ... there's no legal action taken by the government against those responsible," said Ginting, Walhi's coordinator for the program for forestry advocacy.

He said that by allowing such practices, the government had failed to honor its agreement with other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries for an immediate implementation of a "zero-burning policy" by July 1999.

Environment ministers from ASEAN met in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, last month following the release of satellite pictures showing "hot spots" in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

At the meeting, the ministers endorsed the immediate implementation of a zero-burning policy in Sumatra and the other vast island of Borneo (of which two-thirds is Indonesia's Kalimantan), where forest fires originated during the haze episodes of 1997 and 1998. Brunei and Malaysia also have territory in Borneo.

Efforts would also be accelerated to promote the zero-burning policy among plantation owners and timber concessionaires, especially in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, which have been most affected by haze in the past.

Ginting said Walhi viewed forest fires as a devastating outcome of the poor policies in effect for managing the country's forest. He said that during the last two decades, management was dominated by mass conversion practices, especially by the opening of large areas of forest to allow private companies to develop oil palm plantations.

"We fear that this year forest fires will have a wider impact, because they will happen at a time when the country is yet to alleviate the crises and is focusing on the general election," Ginting said.

More than five million hectares of forest, plantation, and land in Indonesia were razed by the fires between June 1997 and March 1998. Over 70 million people throughout Southeast Asia reportedly were affected by pollution resulting from the haze.

Two international environmental organizations, the Singapore- based Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) estimated that US$4.4 billion was lost in the forest fires.

According to EEPSEA director David Glover, the amount was more than the damages assessed for the Exxon Valdez oil spill and India's Bhopal chemical spill combined.

The EEPSEA/WWF report put fire-related losses at $3 billion, while the haze-related impact was estimated at over $1.4 billion. It excluded immeasurable factors, such as the long-term impact on health and biodiversity loss.

The Ministry of Forestry has issued a 'fresh' warning against forestry and plantation companies suspected of starting forest fires, threatening that they will be closed down unless they abide by government rules.

The ministry also issued new guidelines which aim to prevent forest fires. They were jointly prepared by the International Tropical Timber Organization, the Common Fund for Commodities, the Ministry's Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Preservation, and the Bogor Institute of Agriculture.

"The punishment for those guilty of burning practices will be heavier than that of the past," promised Minister of Forestry and Plantations Muslimin Nasution last week, without elaborating on the content of the guidelines.

But environmental activists are pessimistic the government will follow through on the threat.

Ginting criticized Nasution for offering no specific plan to deal with forest fires and for failing to address the substance of the problem.

"Promises like 'to take stern action against those found causing forest fires' is hollow jargon that has been used for over two years. People want real action, not empty promises."

He urged the government to reveal concrete plans to the public. "The ministry should face the public and the press and explain a detailed plan."

Walhi also urged the ministry to bring those responsible for burning the forests to court for environmental crimes, and told the government to check the rapid growth of plantations to prevent further destruction of the country's forests.