Haze from farming practices: Official
Haze from farming practices: Official
JAKARTA (JP): The haze troubling some neighboring countries
such as Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore over the past few weeks
has been caused by slash-and-burn farming practices rather than
forest fires, an official said yesterday.
Soekardjo Wirjosiswojo, an expert staff member of the Ministry
of Forestry, said in Denpasar, Bali, over the weekend that
research conducted by the ministry showed that most of the smoke
resulted from farming practices.
The largest "fire spots" appeared on farmlands and timber
estates, he said. Farmers cleared land by setting fire to bushes
and shrubs, a practice also conducted by private logging
companies when clearing tropical forests.
He pointed out that the Ministry of Forestry has made repeated
calls against the burning of trees and bushes for clearing land
for farming, and for forest concessionaires to use chemicals to
speed up decomposition instead.
"(Using chemicals) won't cause smoke. This method has been
tried out in Kalimantan," he was quoted by Antara as saying, but
he did not elaborate.
"In some countries, such as Australia, people use chemicals to
clear land and obtain satisfactory results," he said.
Complaints about thick smoke blanketing many parts of Sumatra
and Kalimantan and neighboring countries have been voiced time
and again. From Singapore, for instance, residents complained
about an acrid smell infiltrating streets and buildings while
hospitals worried about an increase in respiratory disorders, eye
infections and skin irritations.
DPA reported that regional flights from Singapore have had to
be rerouted due to poor visibility and school teachers have moved
physical education classes indoors. In Kuala Lumpur, smoke and
smog have merged into a thick, threatening toxic cloud which
hovers over the city, the agency said.
Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed to cooperate in dealing
with the haze, while Singapore has helped by providing satellite
images of smoke hot spots.
Most forest fires have been occurring in Central and West
Kalimantan, South Sumatra, Riau and Jambi.
State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said last
week that fires destroyed 300,000 hectares of forests in
Kalimantan and Sumatra.
Fires devastated 161,000 hectares of land last year, while
about 3,000 hectares were destroyed in 1994 and 1995. The worst
forest fires in Indonesia were in 1982 when three million
hectares of land was destroyed.
Disaster
Separately, in Yogyakarta, a geography expert called for
better preparation yesterday to cope with the possibility of
natural disasters brought about by the prolonged drought.
Chairman of the Center for Natural Disaster Studies at Gadjah
Mada University, Sudibyakto, described four steps to anticipate
disasters: readiness to face disasters, disaster emergency
response, rehabilitation and reconstruction.
Addressing a ceremony marking the 34th anniversary of the
university's School of Geography, Sudibyakto said that readiness
to face disasters, for example, could be translated into
activities such as conducting research and making maps of
potential disaster areas.
Sudibyakto said the impact of natural disasters should be
handled by all relevant sectors. Both local and national
government institutions have to participate -- coordination
becomes crucial, he said.
"The community, too, has to be involved. If not for the
emergency response, rehabilitation and reconstruction stages,
then they should contribute to efforts in preventing disasters
from occurring," he said. (swe/swa)