Govt ignored warning, fires to continue
Govt ignored warning, fires to continue
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The central and local governments are to blame for the continuing
forest fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra as they ignored early
warnings, a team of experts said on Friday.
The team, set up under the auspices of the Ministry of
Research and Technology, also called on the government to declare
the fires and national disaster and to start evacuating people
living near the burn offs to prevent further deaths.
It also warned the government against playing down the team's
prediction of the forest fires continuing for the remainder of
the year.
Team member Bambang Hero Saharjo told a media conference the
experts warned the government twice this year but it had done
nothing.
"First, we informed the government in January that forest
fires would return, but at that time they were busy with serious
floods in Jakarta," said Bambang, a senior lecturer at the Bogor
Institute of Agriculture.
"Then, in April we renewed our warning. They were supposed to
immediately take preventive measures, but it turned out that no
institution followed up on our notification."
The team was set up to mitigate the effects of climate
disasters under the auspices of the Ministry of Research and
Technology.
Bambang said the government did not move to prevent the fires
on the grounds it had not found signals that a drought would be
caused by a weak El Nino.
On the contrary, the team had expected a weak El Nino to occur
this year, he said.
El Nino is an abnormal water warming phenomenon in the Pacific
Ocean. It changes patterns of wind and rain, which sparks severe
droughts in Indonesia and neighboring countries but causes heavy
rain in western parts of South America.
The El Nino in 1997-1998 partly triggered vast forest fires in
Kalimantan and Sumatra, causing a thick haze to spread throughout
Southeast Asia.
He said this year's fire should be declared a disaster due to
its impact. "There have been deaths and 7,000 others are
suffering from upper respiratory tract infections," he said.
"People in West and Central Kalimantan, in particular, have
been hit hardest by the forest and ground fires. The government
needs to evacuate people surrounding the fire and provide them
with food assistance," he said.
Bambang suggested that the Ministry of Forestry assume the
position of rescuing the people.
"It is obvious that the government, in this case the Ministry
of Forestry, must be responsible for handling the fires. It's
already beyond the capability of the regencies and provinces," he
said.
He regretted the fact that efforts to tackle the blazes were
minimal and even the forestry agencies in Kalimantan and Sumatra
were reluctant to investigate the sources of the fires.
Meanwhile, Erna Sri Adiningsih, who chairs the team, said the
government should be alert for the possibility the fires would
burn for the remainder of the year.
"People in West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, Lampung, and
Riau must be cautious of forest fires until the end of this year.
"The possibility is 60 percent that those areas will be still
dry by the end of the year," she said.
Instead of taking immediate action to deal with the fires, the
government has blamed local people and migrants for the disaster.
Forest concession companies are relatively free of accusations
of careless forest management although hot spots have also been
found in their areas.
Kalimantan is prone to forest fires due to its abundant peat
lands.