Indonesia works to curb forest fires in Kalimantan
Indonesia works to curb forest fires in Kalimantan
SAMARINDA, East Kalimantan (JP): Indonesia is attempting to
contain the threat of large forest fires feeding off the coal
reserves in Kalimantan.
The Indonesian government is currently escorting officials
from neighboring Malaysia and Singapore on an inspection tour of
the efforts employed to isolate and manage the coal fires.
The tour follows the signing of an agreement between the three
countries last June to establish a joint forest fire management
team to contain forest fires, particularly in Sumatra and
Kalimantan.
Last year, forest fires in the two provinces covered not only
parts of Indonesia, but also Singapore and Malaysia in a thick
smog. The smoke caused health problems in the neighboring
countries.
The fires reached their peak about this time last year and
were fed into late October by the prolonged dry season.
The government has taken steps to prevent a repetition this
year, barring forest concessionaires from burning wood chips and
urging local farmers to abandon their traditional slash and burn
farming practices.
Although there have been no major forest fires this year,
officials in Samarinda warn that the huge coal reserves in the
forest make fire a serious threat.
The officials from Malaysia and Singapore are currently
designing early warning systems to alert them of major forest
fires.
Soemarsono, the director general for forest preservation and
nature conservation, told his guests that Indonesia has worked
out ways of isolating coal fires.
The method, however, isn't effective in detecting and
isolating coal fires 300 meters below the surface, Soemarsono
said.
The study also involves the Mulawarman University in Samarinda
and the Japanese International cooperation Agency and GTZ, a
German organization that is providing the technical know-how.
At Bukit Soeharto (Soeharto Hill) near here, there are up to
47 coal fires, only some have been isolated.
Soemarsono said that external factors, such as clear cutting
forests, can ignite coal fires. (anr)