Juwono gives forest fires top priority

Juwono gives forest fires top priority

JAKARTA (JP): Only hours after being installed as the new
State Minister of Environment, Juwono Sudarsono declared his
intention to instill "a sense of crisis" in the public over the
threat of widespread forest fires.

Speaking to journalists after taking over the post from
Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, Juwono said that forest fires would damage
Indonesia's international image if the nation failed to properly
handle the recurring problem.

"We will be under international scrutiny for the problems of
forest fires and haze... especially when the Commonwealth Games
come around this October," Juwono said, referring to the major
sporting event which the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur will
host later this year. All Commonwealth nations will be in
attendance, including England and Australia.

Over the past two months, fires have been raging over almost
80,000 hectares of forest and brush in East Kalimantan. The
province borders the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah on the
island of Borneo.

Local people in the province and residents of neighboring
Singapore and Malaysia have expressed concern that choking smog,
caused by massive fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan last year, will
return.

Over 20 million people in Kalimantan and Sumatra were exposed
to hazardous haze caused by fires which burned for around nine
months last year. The World Wide Fund for Nature said that the
haze cost Indonesia over US$900 million in short-term health
costs alone.

This year, more than 2,000 East Kalimantan residents have
reportedly suffered respiratory ailments caused by haze over the
past two months.

Yesterday, head of the East Kalimantan Environmental Impact
Management Agency Awang Farouk Ishak told Antara that 76,949.40
hectares of forest have been destroyed by fires this year,
causing losses of up to Rp 220,032 billion (US$22 million).

Juwono, who is also Chairman of the Environmental Impact
Management Agency (Bapedal), said that to help counter the wide
regional and international impact of this year's fires, the
country would have to launch an "all-out environmental diplomacy
drive".

"We must work hard in order to be able to cope with
environmental problems which have a regional and international
impact," Juwono, a professor of international politics at the
University of Indonesia, said.

He reiterated his intention to instill a sense of urgency in
the public over environmental issues, conceding that this would
be difficult to achieve. However, he felt that with the country
facing financial and environmental crises, the gravity of the
situation may soon hit home.

Juwono called on every concerned member of society to help him
rouse a sense of urgency, and appealed specifically to his
predecessors Sarwono and Emil Salim who were in attendance at the
ceremony.

Also present yesterday were over 100 officials from the
Ministry of Environment and environmental activists.

In his speech after handing over to Juwono, Sarwono said he
was "relieved and proud" that his successor was "a man of
learning and integrity".

Also yesterday new ministers took over the jobs from their
predecessors in their respective offices. (aan)