Forest fire losses may exceed Rp 100b

Forest fire losses may exceed Rp 100b

JAKARTA (JP): The fires that have ravaged more than 20,000
hectares of brush and forest in East Kalimantan over the last two
months have incurred Rp 76.2 billion in losses for Indonesia.

According to the latest data, areas belonging to timber
estates accounted for Rp 65.4 billion of the total losses, forest
concessions for Rp 8.5 billion, and plantations for Rp 2.1
billion, Antara reported yesterday.

Quoting head of the provincial environmental impact management
agency, Awang Farouk Ishak, the news agency predicted that the
losses this year would be higher than last year, when fires
ravaged 30,000 hectares of forest between April and December. The
1997 fires caused losses of up to Rp 100 billion.

He said 18,035 hectares out of the total 20,158 hectares
damaged by this year's fires were forest areas located in the
Kutai National Park and Bontang Reserve Forest. The remaining
2,123 hectares were brush areas.

Awang predicted the fires would get worse and that the induced
impact would also be worse than the one suffered by the country
last year which, according to a bona fide study, caused more than
US$1 million in damage through haze alone.

The local branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature has said
that the high cost of haze-inflicted damage could have been used
"to provide basic sanitation, water and sewage services for 40
million people, or about one third of the country's poor."

According to Awang, the losses to be suffered by the country
during this year's forest and brush fires in East Kalimantan --
aggravated by the prolonged dry season and economic crisis --
were still being calculated.

Continued burning by companies and slash-and-burn farmers to
clear land following seasonal harvests have heightened fears of
the haze, which covered the country and neighboring Malaysia and
Singapore throughout much of last year, returning.

In line with the deepening environmental crisis, Awang said
yesterday that the provincial government has vowed to take
stringent legal action against forest burners.

Out of 20 companies accused of starting fires to clear land,
one known as PT Matras Sawit has been singled out for arson and a
dossier against the company has been submitted to police for
further investigation, he said.

In Jakarta yesterday, Hadi S. Alikodra, a senior official at
the office of the state minister of environment, said the
government was also figuring out ways to give short-term
assistance to people affected by the latest outbreak of fires.

Speaking with reporters and several non-governmental
organization activists in his office, Hadi said work on a labor-
intensive program was being devised in cooperation with the
National Development Planning Board (Bappenas).

"The first priority now will be providing enough food to those
affected, before taking further steps to help them cope with the
current biological crisis," he said.

As reported earlier, about 5,000 people living in several
remote villages in Kutai regency, 120 kilometers northwest of
East Kalimantan's capital of Samarinda -- where some of the
province's worst fires are burning -- are now facing food
shortages.

The provincial government has sent 20 tons of rice relief to
the affected villages of Ritan Baru, in Tabang subdistrict, and
Pajeng Long Lees and Nyelon, Muara Ancalong subdistrict. (aan)