Forest fires cause Rp 132b in losses

JAKARTA (JP): Forest fires have destroyed more than 165,000 hectares of forest in the country this year, causing an estimated loss of Rp 132 billion (US$26.4 million), Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo said yesterday.

But Djamaludin said this does not include the immeasurable ecological damage such as destroyed habitats and forest ecosystems.

"Forest burning also damaged the soil as it killed all the useful microorganisms which made the land productive," he said in a news conference on reforestation and land rehabilitation.

The figure also did not include the financial losses of timber estates and plantation companies.

This year, fire razed more than 165,000 hectares of forest -- more than 125,000 hectares of industrial and protected forest and more than 40,000 hectares of brush and land, he said.

But he declined to estimate how many years it would take the forests to rehabilitate.

The fires have been concentrated in Central Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, Sumatra's Riau and Jambi provinces. Fires have also destroyed a large area of forest in Irian Jaya and Java.

Chief of the environmental damage control department of the Environmental Management Agency (Bapedal), Yon Artiono, said Indonesia has suffered huge losses in more ways than one due to the forest fires.

"It will take us a very long time and a lot of money to rehabilitate the damaged soil," he told a seminar on land and forest fires at Padjadjaran University in Bandung, West Java.

He said 15 years of reforestation had yet to rehabilitate land that was badly damaged in forest fires in 1982. At least three million hectares of land and forest was destroyed in the fires.

"Not only (did the government have to provide) money for reforestation, the fires also disrupted the ecosystem and killed animals," he said.

Legislation

Yesterday's seminar concluded that Indonesia needs to review and reform its laws on forestry to effectively deter those who burn forest. Regulations should also be made in accordance to international standards, as the impact of the fires, such as the thick haze, also affected other countries.

Komariah Emong Sapardjaja, a lecturer at the Padjadjaran University, said the 1967 law on forestry did not deter violators.

"The law only stipulates punishment in the form of imprisonment or fines but does not include details on how the punishment should be brought about," Komariah was quoted by Antara as saying.

Another speaker, Komar Kantaatmadja, said the haze caused by forest fires that affected neighboring Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines and Thailand was subject to international laws.

Yon Artiono agreed that the existing laws have failed to deter those who burn forest. However, he expressed hope that the new law on environmental management, produced this year, would be more effective than its predecessor Law No.4/1982.

Conservation

Also yesterday, Minister Djamaludin said the ministry will commemorate tomorrow the National Reforestation and Nature Conservation Day at Karang Joang district in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan. Vice President Try Sutrisno will lead the commemoration.

Djamaludin said the ceremony is aimed at motivating the community to participate in reforestation activities and nature conservation.

He said it would also inform the international community about Indonesia's efforts to preserve its natural resources, a follow- up to the declaration of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

He said that from 1973 to 1997, Indonesia had reforested 6.192 million hectares or 86.27 percent of its land in a critical state.

Several activities have been planned to mark conservation day, including discussions, scout camping and exhibitions. (gis/09/43/swe)