Forest fires threaten Kalimantan
Forest fires threaten Kalimantan
JAKARTA (JP): After weeks of rain that has brought respite
from last year's drought, forests in Kalimantan are again under
threat of fire, Antara reported over the weekend.
The head of the East Kalimantan forestry office, Heru Basuki
Sukiran, said in the provincial capital of Samarinda that this
month's satellite monitoring showed hundreds of hot spots
scattered across Kalimantan, including 27 in the province.
From its field observation on the Bukit Soeharto preserved
forest, the news agency described yellowish dry savanna and
withering trees from afar, with smoke seen billowing in the wind.
The agency said the smoke has reduced visibility in the area
and has started to disturb motorists along the Samarinda-
Balikpapan highway.
No officials in the province were available for comment
yesterday.
State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja told The
Jakarta Post he was aware of the new outbreaks of fires in East
Kalimantan, but could not comment on the cause of the fires.
"It's being checked," said the minister who led the fight
against last year's forest and brush fires. Haze from the fires
covered much of Southeast Asia for months.
Antara, quoting a report by the Integrated Forest Fire
Management (IFFM) -- a German-sponsored cooperating body -- said
Indonesia would experience another long dry season this year
because of the El Nino effect.
The monsoon usually begins in January in Kalimantan, but the
IFFM predicted that the "second dry season" would continue until
next June, aggravated by the El Nino.
Last year, at least 165,352 hectares of forest were destroyed
when fires ravaged Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Irian Jaya.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, an estimated one
million hectares of peat is still burning in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Minister of Forestry Djamaluddin Suryohadikusumo
described on Saturday how Indonesia's forest continued to decline
because at least four million hectares are being converted into
commercial estate.
The forest areas which had been converted into commercial
estate, particularly for oil palm plantation, had reached some
3.4 million hectares, he said in a breaking of the fast gathering
with the Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals Association (ICMI).
He was quoted by Antara as saying that the whole acreage, 2.4
million hectares, had been planted with oil palm, while the other
one million hectare had yet to be planted.
Most of them are located in Sumatra and Kalimantan islands, he
said, hoping that it would be beneficial to the reopening of the
oil palm estates managed by foreign investors.
He added in the draft state budget for the fiscal year of
1998/99, Rp 500 billion would be allocated to the labor-intensive
program in the forestry sector. (aan)