Haze of smoke, forest fires

Haze of smoke, forest fires

Although some regions struggled through floods and landslides,
several areas in Indonesia suffered forest fires, which have
become routine during incidents during long spells of the dry
season. In some areas of Sumatra, such as North Sumatra, West
Sumatra, Riau, Jambi and South Sumatra, hundreds of hot spots
have been spotted. Riau is the area most adversely effected:
early last week, it was monitoring some 870 hot spots in the
region. The result of all these fires is a thick haze of smoke
has hit the region and its neighbors.

Forest fires are routine incidents that occur every year. The
fires may be caused by natural or human factors. To clear land
for plantations, according to the executive director of the North
Sumatra chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment,
Efendi Panjaitan, there are indications that some plantation
companies make use of a logging-and-burning system.

If the haze in the region is attributable to the burning of
forest areas, especially protected forest areas, we will all be
the sadder. Indonesia, famous for its tropical forests, which
measure the largest in the world after Brazil, has lost millions
of hectares of land because of the burning of forest areas.

Still fresh in our minds are the forest fires of 1997, which
compelled us to accept fire-fighting volunteers from Malaysia.
The inability of the country to deal with the problem remains
controversial; is Indonesia incapable or is it just unwilling?

Without proper law enforcement and necessary steps by the
government to deal with forest fires, next year will bring with
it more reports about forest fires and the accompanying haze.

-- Suara Karya, Jakarta