Indonesia needs long-term tactics to beat forest fires
Indonesia needs long-term tactics to beat forest fires
By Dian Suita
JAKARTA (Antara): New hot spots have been detected in
Kalimantan and Sumatra as a result of fires, which devastated
millions of hectares of forest, not being entirely put out.
The office of the State Ministry of Environment reported the
hot spots were located at a number of protected forests in Aceh,
North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, Bengkulu, Lampung,
Central Kalimantan and East Kalimantan.
A report on early fire detection conducted by the ministry
early this month says the hot spots are burning under coal
deposits which is common place in Indonesian forests.
Embers have yet to cause major fires as rains helped dampen
the threat, but the government warns that a disaster similar to
that of 1997/1998 is looming as the dry season approaches.
Environmental expert Surna Tjahja Djajadiningrat of the
Ministry of Mines and Energy warns that East Kalimantan's
forests, which have 200 identified hot spots, is particularly
vulnerable.
He calls on the government and environmental organizations to
take the necessary precautionary measures in anticipation of a
fresh conflagration.
The 1997/1998 fires destroyed an estimated 10 million hectares
of forests in Kalimantan and Sumatra. The slash-and-burn land
clearance technique employed to open plantations were blamed for
the disaster, which also badly affected Malaysia, Brunei and
Singapore.
Other culprits were poor land-use plans and forest management
by concessionaires as well as the government's slack supervision.
The El Nino weather phenomenon worsened the situation.
Experts agree the 1997/1998 forest conflagration in Indonesia
was a global environmental catastrophe.
Its economic, social and biological impact reached as far as
Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines and Thailand. It was
believed to have affected the global climate.
The World Wide Fund (WWF) and the Canadian Economic and
Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA) put the financial
loss at more than US$4.4 billion.
If estimates were accurate, it equaled 2.5 percent of
Indonesia's Gross National Product at the time.
The forest fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra destroyed a
considerable amount of trees, plants, agricultural products and
biodiversity. They also caused health problems and crippled
tourism in Indonesia and its neighboring countries, incurring a
loss of about $1.4 billion.
Experts said Indonesia shouldered about 90 percent of the
loss. Hospitals in affected areas were crammed with people
admitted for respiratory complaints.
Revenue from tourism was said to have dropped by some $90
million in Indonesia, $300 million in Malaysia and $60 million in
Singapore as holidaymakers skipped the countries due to the haze.
As forest fires have always caused substantial losses, it is
advised that the Indonesian government prioritize precautionary
measures rather than act after the fire ignites.
Environmentalist Jeffrey A. Sayer stresses the need for long-
term solutions because the disaster occurs every dry season.
Sayer, who is director of the Center for International
Forestry Research (Cifor), says so far the Indonesian government
and donor countries have focused only on short-term measures,
which will not be effective.
"Most of the fire prevention projects are for short-term goals
and they do not touch on the root of the problem.
"Besides, the type of assistance that donor countries offer
does not fit the actual condition of Indonesian forests," he
says. "The donors think as if they are putting out the fire in
their own forests, which are different from Indonesian forests."
He noted water bombing as a method to extinguish a forest fire
as a case in point. The method, he says, is effective only if the
forest area is small, the plants relatively homogeneous and the
water source is at hand.
If Indonesian forests catch fire this year, Indonesia and its
donors do not have to waste money on short-term projects, he
says.
"It would be better to spend 90 percent of the money on long-
term projects."
Solutions he proposes are protecting the remaining forested
land, defining land use, preparing land classification and making
transparent laws on forestry.
Besides, the Indonesian government should promote reward and
supervision of forest concessionaires to minimize social
disturbance and fire hazard.
The result may not be seen in 10 years time but the proper
measures will raise hopes for better forest management and
neighboring countries will not have to worry about haze from
Indonesia every time the dry season comes.