Government finds itself helpless in tackling haze

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government appears to be helpless in tackling the choking haze blanketing Central Kalimantan as the fires are mostly burning on an area of peatland stretching to some one million hectares, which had previously been earmarked for a transmigration project.

This type of fire is especially difficult to extinguish, say experts.

In Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan,Antara reported that the smoke had diminished temporarily as rain poured down on the city for several hours on Monday night. But in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, the haze continued to thicken.

Head of the Forest Fire Section of the Office of the State Minister for the Environment Hermono Sigit said on Tuesday that the government could only extinguish fires that were burning outside of the peatland areas in Central Kalimantan.

"It is useless to attempt to combat the fires in the peatland areas. So we are stopping the fires from spreading outside the peatland areas and continuing to minimize the impact on human health through measures like distributing masks," he told the Jakarta Post.

He also said that poor coordination between central and local governments, and lack of funds and human resources had weakened the effort to fight the fires, problems that also occurred in other provinces.

As of Monday, thick haze covered Central Kalimantan, while thinner haze was spread over West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, South Sumatra and Lampung.

The haze has caused respiratory problems for residents, eye irritations and environmental damage.

Director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) in Central Kalimantan, Nurdin, admitted that the setting of fires in the area encompassed by the one million hectares of peatland project was the main cause of the problem.

"The government must fill in the many canals and drains running through the fields to stop the fires. These cause water to flow out of the area so that in the dry season the peatland becomes a tinderbox," he told the Post.

The government had attempted to convert one million hectares of peatland into a giant transmigration project to host migrants from Java.

The program failed, and, according to Walhi, the majority of the fields are now unoccupied and abandoned.

As the location is accessible, local people have started logging and land clearance activities for their plantations through burning, thus giving rise to thick smoke.

Sigit said the government was continuing to monitor the hotspots on a daily basis and inform the local government of what measures were required.

Under Government Regulation No. 4/2001 on the control of pollution and damage due to forest fires, the local government is responsible for combatting forest fires, while the central government supplies information and advice on how to cope with the fires.