Integrated licensure needed to combat wildfires, says expert

P.C. Naommy, Jakarta

Poor governmental supervision has encouraged forest concessionaires and plantation companies to employ burning to clear their land, which is one of the main causes of forest fires in the country, an activist says.

The executive director of the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law, Indro Sugianto, said over the weekend that the government was so eager to issue business permits that it failed to supervise how companies operated in the field.

"The reality in the field shows that many of these institutions just issue licenses without supervising how the companies carry out their business," said Indro.

Plantation companies are likely to choose the slash-and-burn method of clearing land because it is the cheapest alternative for opening up thousands of hectares of land for future cultivation, he said.

The slash-and-burn method of land clearance is believed to be one of the main causes of the annual forest fires in Riau and other parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan that send thick clouds of smoke over neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.

The Office of the State Minister for the Environment said last week it was investigating a total of 22 fires allegedly caused by plantation companies in Riau and Kalimantan. At least 10 of the companies being investigated by Riau authorities are owned by Malaysians.

A thick haze from the fires has spread across Sumatra and Kalimantan, and is also affecting Malaysia and Singapore, causing flight delays and health worries in the two countries.

Indro said the annual fires reflected a lack of commitment to law enforcement by the government.

The worst forest fires in the history of modern Indonesia occurred in 1997 and 1998, with at least 11.7 million hectares of forested areas affected, 8.2 million hectares more than in the fires of 1982 and 1983.

Indro called for an integrated licensing system to help fight this problem, under which both plantation companies and forest concessionaires would have to go to one place to obtain business licenses.

He said that under the current system, forest concessionaires obtained their licenses from the Ministry of Forestry, while plantation companies went to the Ministry of Agriculture for licenses. If concessionaires or plantation companies plan to export their products, they must also obtain a license from the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Indro said that with an integrated licensing system, a company would not be allowed to obtain a license from one ministry without first receiving approval from the other related ministries.

"This method of licensing would make the task of monitoring companies easier and would also act as a tool for imposing strong measures against companies breaking the law," he said.

Indro said such a licensing system would be included in the revision of Law No. 23/1997 on environmental management.

A staff member in the legal division at the Office of the State Minister for the Environment, Nixon Silalahi, confirmed plans to include an integrated licensing system in the revised environmental management law. He said a draft of the revised law was currently being looked at by a team from the state minister's office, non-governmental organizations and academics.