New drive to prevent forest fires launched
New drive to prevent forest fires launched
JAKARTA (JP): With the new dry season underway, the government
launched a new drive yesterday to prevent forest fires and a
repetition of last year's environment and health catastrophes.
The campaign is chiefly targeted at timber companies, as well
as state and private companies which open new transmigration
areas, with warnings that they could no longer use the
traditional method of burning forests to clear land tracts.
Companies that violate this rule stand to lose their business
licenses.
The campaign was launched at a forestry estate project owned
by PT Musi Hutan Persada in the Subanjeriji village of the Muara
Enim regency in South Sumatra. The ceremony was led by State
Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, Antara reported.
President Soeharto, in his written message read at the
ceremony, stressed that prevention was far easier and better than
containing forest fires.
The time has come to stop the practice of burning forests
because it is dangerous as well as detrimental, according to the
speech read by Sarwono.
"We have to develop other methods of clearing land, without
using fire," he said, adding that chips and other waste resulting
from felling trees have potential commercial value.
Present at the ceremony were Minister of Forestry Djamaludin
Suryohadikusumo, Armed Forces Chief of General Affairs Lt. Gen.
Soeyono and governors of all the provinces in Sumatra and
Kalimantan.
Last year's brushfires began in July and quickly spread,
mainly in Sumatra and Kalimantan. The fires were put out when the
rainy season began, which, last year, came in November, later
than usual.
The forest fires caused thick smog in most parts of Sumatra
and Kalimantan and was blown over neighboring Singapore and
Malaysia, disrupting commercial life and causing health hazards
in many areas.
Soeharto, in his speech yesterday, appealed to everyone
concerned to make a new beginning this year, the year Indonesia
marks its 50th independence anniversary, in preventing forest
fires and preserving the nation's natural resources.
After the ceremony, Sarwono told reporters that the government
is determined that forest fires of the scale seen last year would
not be repeated this year.
The campaign is the result of various coordination meetings
which began in February. A coordinating team for the prevention
of forest fires has also been established, he said.
Djamaludin said the campaign is aimed at making the business
community more aware of their environmental responsibilities.
He said his office would rescind the business permits of
companies which still burn forests. "That's all we can do so far.
We cannot take them to court because there are no regulations for
that." (emb)