Government finds itself helpless in tackling haze

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.