Forest fires a costly lesson: Try
Forest fires a costly lesson: Try
KARANG JOANG, East Kalimantan (JP): Vice President Try
Sutrisno said yesterday the outbreak of forest fires this year is
too costly a lesson that should not be repeated.
Addressing the National Regreening and Natural Conservation
Day ceremony, Try called on all parties to be proactive and
prevent further forest fires. Yesterday's ceremony was also held
in commemoration of National Social Solidarity Day.
"Everyone of us should pay careful attention to climate change
and the environment," he said, adding that the fires had
endangered the function of the forest as the world's lung.
He called on the public to join the "One Million Trees
Movement" by planting trees and becoming involved in
environmental regeneration.
"The forest fires took place not only because of nature and
the long drought, but also because of people's poor discipline,"
he said.
Forest fires destroyed more than 165,000 hectares of forest in
the country this year, causing an estimated Rp 132 billion
(US$26.4 million) loss, according to Minister of Forestry
Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo yesterday.
He recently said the estimated loss did not include the
immeasurable ecological damage such as destroyed habitats and
forest ecosystems. It also did not include the financial losses
of timber estates and plantation companies.
More than 125,000 hectares of industrial and protected forest
and more than 40,000 hectares of brush and land were destroyed in
the fires.
Experts have predicted that it will take the country years to
restore the damaged soil.
Also yesterday, the Vice President presented awards and prizes
to the winners of the regreening contest, to model social
workers, youth activists and district administrators.
He also presented awards to 33 officials and community leaders
who made an outstanding contribution to the campaign for social
welfare and humanity. They included West Java Governor R.
Nuriana, Central Java Governor Soewardi, East Java Governor
Basofi Soedirman, and former Jakarta governor Museno.
Yesterday's commemoration was held at the Karang Joang
village, 25 kilometers from Balikpapan which is known as the oil
city of East Kalimantan.
East Kalimantan Governor H.M. Ardans told Try that since
joining the One Million Trees Movement, the province had
rehabilitated 96 hectares of damaged land and planted 7,278,084
trees.
Education
In Jakarta yesterday, an environmentalist highlighted the need
for environmental education to be incorporated in the curriculum
and extracurricular activities in secondary schools, both in
rural and urban areas, to instill a love of the environment from
an early age.
Katarina Panji, the World Wildlife Fund's head of
communications, said early education could teach children not to
be wasteful.
"They are the future decision makers. If they are not equipped
with knowledge about the environment early on, what would happen
to our environment in the future?" she said after speaking in a
discussion on nature conservation.
She said lessons on environmental issues had not been
effectively taught in schools due to the shortage of capable
teachers.
Katarina said the lessons should be accompanied by excursions
to nature sites to develop the children's sense of belonging. The
trips would give them more intense experience than merely reading
from their textbooks, she said. (42/09)