Forestry Ministry details damage, cause of forest fire

Forestry Ministry details damage, cause of forest fire

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo
yesterday said that fires are smoldering throughout 5.11 million
hectares of forests, bushes and grassland in Indonesia, mainly in
Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Djamaludin, armed with statistics, told a press conference
yesterday that 90 percent of these fires were started by local
and nomadic farmers who still practice traditional methods of
slash and burn cultivation.

The minister said the government is also resigned to the fact
that there is little it could do now to put out the raging forest
fires except to wait for the start of the rainy season.

It is extremely difficult to control forest fires once they've
started, he said. "There is nothing we can do now. We hope the
rain will come."

Rain has in fact fallen in some parts of Sumatra and
Kalimantan but has been sporadic and not widespread enough to put
the blaze out.

Neighboring Malaysia and Singapore have complained that thick
haze originating from forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan has
blown in their direction causing major health hazards and
disrupting air traffic.

Responding to the complaints, Djamaludin said there was
nothing Indonesia could do to prevent the flow of smoke because
"we all live on the same planet."

A number of non-governmental organizations have criticized the
government for blaming the nomadic and traditional farmers for
causing the forest fires in Kalimantan.

They said the Dayak, the dominant tribe in Kalimantan, have
had generations and generations of experience in the practice of
slash and burn cultivation and were unlikely to have lost control
of their fires. The NGOs instead blamed the concessionaires who
are clearing the forests in order to make way either for timber
or plantation estates.

But Djamaludin yesterday released statistics showing
concessionaires to be partly responsible for a small share of the
fires.

Of the 5.11 million hectares smoldering, slash and burn
cultivation areas account for around 4.6 million hectares, he
said.

"The practice of slash and burn cultivation has much to do
with the culture and attitude of these people who want to make a
living easily," the minister said.

Losses

Only about 435,600 hectares of forests fumed and flared at the
hands of forest concessionaires, plantation owners and residents
in settlement areas who generally burn wood waste and tree trunks
in order to clear the land, he said.

Djamaludin said the government has suffered Rp 50 billion in
losses due to the smoke and fires in natural forests and re-
greening forests.

While there is little that the government could do to
extinguish the fires, Djamaludin said there is something it can
do to prevent similar disasters in the future.

Having identified the prime cause of the fire, he said the
government plans to launch a major campaign targeted at the local
and nomadic people to change their methods of cultivation.

The government is also using satellites to detect fires as
early as possible.

Another measure is to encourage forest concessionaires to make
the wood waste into chips rather than burning it. The chips could
then be sold to local pulp and paper plants or even exported.

The government will also compel forestry concessionaires to
fully comply with environmental regulations and will restrict
land clearing activities until environmental impact analyses have
been presented and accepted, he said.

Companies would also be required to make environmental
management plans and environmental monitoring plans before
applying for wood utilization permits. (sim)

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