Ministry told to anticipate recurrence of forest fires

Ministry told to anticipate recurrence of forest fires

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid has
ordered the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations to establish a
task force to anticipate a recurrence of large-scale forest
fires.

The order was contained in the official summary of a cabinet
meeting to monitor efforts to accelerate the economic recovery
which was released here on Tuesday.

"With the establishment of the task force it is hoped that the
widespread forest fires experienced by Indonesia in 1998 will not
reoccur".

"For implementation purposes, the forestry and plantations
minister is ordered to coordinate with local administrations and
the TNI (the Indonesian Military)," the summary said.

Indonesia has repeatedly been hit by widespread forest fires
in Kalimantan and Sumatra which have consumed hundreds of
thousands of hectares of forest.

The prevailing winds have also had an adverse effect on
neighboring countries as choking haze gave rise to major problems
in Singapore and Malaysia.

Meanwhile in Singapore, AP reported that officials there were
warning that haze from Indonesia could begin to effect the island
state over the next two to three days.

"Over the past two days, satellite pictures have shown a
significant increase in the number of hot spots in central
Sumatra," Singapore's environment ministry said in a statement on
Tuesday,

"Should the fires spread further and the winds change to a
more westerly direction, Singapore could be affected by some
smoke haze in a few days," the statement said.

On Tuesday, Singapore's Pollutant Standards Index reading
stood at 42, up from Monday's reading of 38. A reading of 50 or
below is considered "good," while higher than 50 is "moderate"
and higher than 100 "unhealthy." (byg)