Fires burn in protected forests

Fires burn in protected forests

JAKARTA: Spot fires have been detected in several protected
forests in Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Riau, Jambi,
Bengkulu, Lampung, Central Kalimantan and East Kalimantan, an
official said here on Thursday.

Soedarmadi, an assistant to the coordinating minister for
people's welfare, said the fires were detected by the State
Ministry of the Environment early this month.

The fires are believed to be burning in coal deposits in the
forests, Antara reported.

The fires were contained by the heavy rains over the past few
weeks. However, June is usually the start of the dry season, so
preventive measures have to be taken, Soedarmadi said after a
coordination meeting on public welfare.

Several ministers attended the meeting, which was presided
over by Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare and Poverty
Eradication Haryono Suyono.

Soedarmadi said that in a bid to prevent the fires from
growing, the government would cooperate with non-governmental
organizations and plantation and logging companies.