Govt warns of possible return of forest fires
Govt warns of possible return of forest fires
JAKARTA (JP): The government is on alert again for the
possible return of brush and forest fires in Kalimantan and
Sumatra, following a particularly dry week which has seen little
rain fall in the area.
Director of environmental damage control at the Environmental
Impact Management Agency (Bapedal), Yon Artiono Arba'i, said the
agency had warned East Kalimantan Governor Herman Musakabe about
the imminent threats in the province.
Concerns about a recurrence of forest fires were sounded
Saturday when a satellite report showed hundreds of hot spots in
Kalimantan.
"Fires have indeed broken out in the southern part of Kutai,
in the area where brush and logging remnants have been burned,"
Yon said. "However, we are still monitoring whether the fires
were manmade."
He also confirmed yesterday another report from South Sumatra
about the outbreak of new forest fires in the province.
Yon could not give details on the location of the fires.
Head of the Forest Fires Prevention and Control Project in
South Sumatra's capital of Palembang, Jacques Maurer, told The
Jakarta Post that the number of new fires had been "growing in
the last week when the rain stopped falling".
"It seems to be peat fires," Jacques said, adding that
satellite images showed that fires had broken out in licensed and
industrial timber estates and forest concessionaires.
The Forest Fires Prevention and Control Project is a
cooperating body between the European Union and the Ministry of
Forestry that has worked in South Sumatra for three years.
The project consistently supplies National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite data on forest fires
to related government institutions.
The latest fires in East Kalimantan are believed to have been
caused by foliage which began to smolder due to the drought.
The drought afflicting Indonesia is now expected to continue
until June. It has been labeled the "second dry season" by the
Integrated Forest Fire Management (IFFM), a German-sponsored
cooperating body operating in East Kalimantan.
Antara reported yesterday that of 60,000 hectares of paddy
fields and crops in the province, 20,000 hectares would fail to
harvest due to insufficient rainfall.
Head of the East Kalimantan agricultural office Sofyan Alex
said in Samarinda that most of the paddy fields in the province
were dependent on the monsoon.
"Some farmers have even had to plant their crop seeds twice,
because the first seeds died in the drought," Sofyan said.
He said 14 subdistricts, known as the province's rice
producing centers, have been badly hit.
The province would have been able to harvest next month had it
not been for the "second dry season", he said.
According to Sofyan, rice production is expected to plunge
from the expected 460,000 tons to just 21,000 tons. (aan)