Forest burners have to prove innocence
JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja warned yesterday that owners of plantation and timber companies alleged by the government of causing widespread fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan have until Oct. 1 to prove themselves innocent.
Speaking during a break of the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment (AMME) here, Sarwono said the government would revoke their business licenses if they failed to provide sufficient evidence.
The government on Monday named 50 companies allegedly responsible for using burning methods for land clearing.
Twenty-two companies in Riau, 14 in West Kalimantan, and 14 others in East Kalimantan.
"In order to prove that they did not practice the burning methods they can go to Mapindo to get a map of their concession areas and overlay the map with satellite images (interpreting hot spots), which they can get from Lapan," Sarwono said.
The minister was referring to PT Mapindo Parama which has taken aerial photos of about 85 million hectares of Indonesia's forests since 1990, about 76 percent or 65 million hectares of which is production forests.
Lapan is the country's National Space and Aviation Agency.
The companies are required to make their defense in a dossier which will later be cross-checked by a joint team from the local administration, Ministry of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Transmigration.
Sarwono could not understand why companies still practiced burning methods despite the introduction of other land clearing methods by the government two years ago.
"It's time to catch the culprits now, whoever they are and no matter who is backing them," Sarwono said.
At least 300,000 hectares of land and forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan have been destroyed by fire in the last three months, endangering the lives of up to 40 million people here and neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.
The second of the three-day ASEAN meeting proceeded smoothly yesterday with delegates agreeing to adopt actions which would boost environmental awareness in the region.
ASEAN was established as a sociopolitical organization in 1967 and comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Delegates revealed yesterday that the meeting had agreed to establish an ASEAN Environment Year in 2000.
Also starting in 2000, a special triennial environmental award will be presented to recognize individuals with outstanding contributions to the protection and betterment of the environment both nationally and regionally.
Other proposal items adopted included a recommendation for the implementation of long-term environmental goals for air and river water quality. (aan)