Forest fires and our powerlessness

Forest fires and our powerlessness

Sarono
Indonesian NGOs Network
for Forest Conservation
Jakarta

Forest and land fires are not new to Indonesia. Forest fires
have been recorded since 1978 although major fires known to the
public occurred in 1982 to 1983. The fires in these two years
devastated 3.6 million hectares of forest. In 1994, these fires
occurred again, devastating 5.11 million hectares of forest.

The process of forest and land destruction by fire continues.
In 1997/1998, fires destroyed 10 million hectares of forest,
making Indonesia the world's biggest carbon dioxide producer.
Unfortunately we have yet to learn from the fires which sweep
through Indonesia every year. Still, a suitable solution to the
problem has not been found.

This year, the burning raged from mid February to April in
Sumatra, namely in Riau, Jambi, North Sumatra, Aceh and other
regions. These fires devoured plantation lands owned by
companies, community-managed land plots and protected forest
areas. In Bukitbatu district, Bengkalis, Riau, for example, at
least 10,906 hectares of land in an animal reserve forest was
reduced to ash. Land clearing by burning conducted by locals led
to the burning of 30 hectares of coconut palms owned by residents
of Cempaka hamlets, Kadaburapat, Bengkalis.

The fires became more extensive because of the customary
practice in which people clear land for agricultural purposes by
burning bushes and what is left of felled trees.

In West Kalimantan, the governor, H. Djawari said fires in the
decade ending 2000 had destroyed 37,971 hectares of forest and
incurred losses of Rp 73 billion. In 1997, 17,800 hectares of
forest was burned with losses estimated at Rp 55 billion. In
Riau, following these fires, dozens of people suffering breathing
difficulties had to be hospitalized.

At Caltex Hospital of SBU Dumai and Duri, dozens of children
and older people suffered breathing difficulties and upper
respiratory tract infection because of the haze. In Medan in
March, some 400,000 people or 20 percent of a total of 2 million
people in Medan suffered from upper respiratory tract infection.

The burning may continue till the end of September 2002 given
the drought which has hit many areas of Java, Sumatra and
Kalimantan.

Yet this practice in July contributed to the smoke from forest
fires and burning which disturbed the surroundings. In Pontianak,
241 locals contracted upper respiratory tract infections in one
week alone in early July. The haze also disrupted flights.

By Aug. 13, there were 285 hotspots in a number of regencies
in West Kalimantan. Then there were reports of 65 hotspots in
areas formerly used as timber estates, 125 hotspots in areas
outside timber estates, forest-concession areas and large-scale
estates and 93 hotspots in plantation areas. The latest data
shows that West Kalimantan now has 1,048 hotspots.

In East Kalimantan, nearly the entire region is covered by
smoke resulting from land clearing. Up till August 12, monitors
recorded 427 hotspots but the next day that number had risen to
612. Central Kalimantan was last reported to have 1,428 hotspots.

Weak law enforcement is evident in the country's saga of
burning. In forest fires in 1995/1996, for example, the forestry
ministry issued a list of companies allegedly behind the
occurrence of the haze. The list had 176 companies -- estates and
timber estates -- but none has been penalized for their actions.

In the 1999 and 2000 fires, at least 50 companies allegedly
used fire to clear land. Again, none were taken to court. The
police blamed a lack of evidence for failure to charge a single
person.

The laws go unheeded, specifically Law No. 23/1997 on
environmental management. There is also the Government Regulation
No. 4/2001 on control over damage and or pollution to the
environment in connection with forest and or land fires.

But when a forest fire occurs, the government only calls upon
the community to wear masks and does nothing else to seriously
solve this problem.

Meanwhile, in the context of saving forests from damage as a
result of human greed, Deputy of the State Ministry of the
Environment, Liana Bratasida, once said that there were five
steps that everybody needed to pay attention to.

First, each province and regency must determine areas
prioritized for forest fire prevention and management on the
basis of the dry season forecast, the land clearance or
preparation plan and the history of forest fires. This is in
keeping with Government Regulation NO. 4/2001.

Second, to ensure that all parties will participate in
preparing themselves, the community must be informed about
drought, hotspots and air quality through various mass media or
community forums.

Third, companies concerned will guarantee that they will stick
to the policy of no burning for land preparation (PLTB). To this
end, the policy of collecting a cash bond amounting to at least
the cost of PLTB plus the cost to arise for fire extinguishing
must be adopted. This bond will be given when an preparation
annual plan is submitted.

Fourth, a guarantee for the community's exploitation right,
which leads to a sense of belonging towards the forest.

Fifth, legal enforcement. Action must be taken against the
perpetrators of arson, be they land owners, estate owners, timber
estate owners or business people.

To this end, it is necessary to take the following measures:
(1) civilian investigators on environment and on forestry must be
empowered so that they can prepare dossiers of investigation to
ensure quick dispatch to the court; (2) the application of
corporate penalties in land and forest fire cases must be
popularized; (c) public opinion about cases being heard at the
court must be shaped and (d) administrative sanctions must be
imposed in the form of suspension of some of their activities if
certain companies violate the prevailing laws or license
revocation.

Through these steps, the guarantee for our safety and health
will become a reality and we will not be carried away by our own
sorrow because of our powerlessness to overcome problems of
forest burning.