Mon, 03 Sep 2001

Haze problems continue in C. Kalimantan

JAKARTA (JP): Haze from forest fires in Central Kalimantan has shown no signs of abating, prompting the provincial government to call on residents to wear face masks.

Haze levels dropped slightly in the main city of Palangkaraya after rain fell on Friday and Saturday but the haze monitor still showed that the level was hazardous to health.

In the worst hit areas, visibility was about 100 meters. The haze, which occurs every year comes from forest fires caused mainly by land clearing activities.

The call for residents to wear masks came from Tukik B. Tumon, chief of the Central Kalimantan provincial health office, who is worried that the haze will create health problems.

"A dampened mask is useful to block the poisonous particles in the haze from entering the body," he was quoted by Antara as saying. Tukik has appealed to the provincial legislative council for support in his campaign on the wearing of face masks.

Tukik advised locals to stop their outdoor activities when visibility is about 100 meters or less, otherwise it would pose a serious risk to their health.

Councillors have urged the provincial administration to create health command posts to deal with the haze hazard.

In Jakarta, the forestry ministry and the state minister of research and technology are considering cloud seeding to halt the spread of forest fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra.

"Cloud seeding is the most feasible technique to put out forest fires," Forestry Minister Muhammad Prakosa said after meeting with President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Friday.

Prakosa said that the water cannons commonly used to fight forest fires were not effective.

Prakosa refused to say when the project would begin as the study by the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology would take some time.

Forest fires are most common in Kalimantan and North Sumatra. Last week, fires disrupted flights in West Kalimantan and haze reached neighboring Malaysia.

Prakosa said that 99 percent of forest fires in Indonesia were caused by human activities and the rest by nature, such as burning peat fires in Kalimantan.

A recent World Bank study shows that large-scale land clearing contributes to 34 percent of cases of forest fires, slash-and- burn farming 25 percent, permanent farming 17 percent, conflict between locals and concessionaires 14 percent and transmigration eight percent.

President Megawati asked the minister to prioritize five issues in forestry, illegal logging, logging theft in national parks, acceleration of the reforestation program, forest fires and monitoring the impact of regional autonomy. (dja/pan)