Rp 5 trillion in timber revenue up in flames

Rp 5 trillion in timber revenue up in flames

JAKARTA (JP): The country has lost over Rp 5 trillion (US$625
million) in timber revenues due to fires which have ravaged more
than 283,000 hectares of forest in East Kalimantan.

The head of the provincial office of the Environmental Impact
Management Agency (Bapedalda), Awang Faroek Ishak, said fires had
destroyed at least 105,900 hectares belonging to logging
concessionaires, 75,600 hectares on timber estate areas and
71,000 hectares in Kutai National Park.

He said the disaster had also damaged forestry by-products
such as wood resin and rattan. It has also destroyed some of the
area's natural biodiversity, a loss which is "unaccountable", he
said as quoted by Antara.

He noted that the area's local population had been worst hit
by the tragedy, with many losing their sources of raw material
for dyeing their Ulap Doyo traditional clothing. He described
their plight as "doubled" given the economic hard times befalling
the country.

Intensive efforts to put out the fires have so far proven
futile.

Efforts to extinguish the blazes -- blamed largely on big
companies and farmers using slash-and-burn methods to clear land
for planting -- have generally been unsuccessful in the drought-
stricken province where little rain has fallen since last July.

On Wednesday, a United Nations Disaster Assessment and
Coordination (UNDAC) team said at least 10,000 firefighters,
supported by water bombers, were needed if efforts to extinguish
the blazes were to prove effective.

However, the UNDAC team said that sustained rain remained the
only effective way to put out the fires.

The United States pledged $2 million yesterday to help fight
the forest fires and prevent further environmental damage in
Indonesia.

Visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and
Pacific Affairs Stanley Roth said here yesterday that the money
was exclusively for Indonesia and separate from a $4 million
"Southeast Asia Environmental Initiative" recently approved by
U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and involving other
countries in the region.

The provincial capital of Samarinda got some respite from the
dry weather yesterday when rain soaked the area for about 45
minutes.

Residents poured out onto the streets to welcome the first
major downpour of the year. Many brought out buckets and water
containers to catch the rain.

In a news conference yesterday, the World Wide Fund for
Nature-Indonesia Program (WWF-IP) said fires in lowland forests
had "significantly" accelerated the extinction rate of Pongo
Pygmaeus, a rare local orangutan species.

Two WWF-IP's species conservation experts, Ron Lilley and
Barita O. Manullang, said that unless a new concerted
conservation effort were initiated soon, the mammal would be gone
forever.

"The 50 percent of the Kutai National Park space left is not
enough for the orangutans," primate expert Manullang said,
referring to the 200,000-hectare conservation park in the
province.

Neither Manullang nor Lilley knew the actual number of
orangutan left in the province, but Manullang pointed out that
the government put the number at about 2,000.

Manullang said the organization was currently exploring the
possibility of recommending the forest area stretching from Lake
Sentarum to Lake Bentuang Karimun in the province as a "natural
conservation corridor" which could help increase the natural
habitat for orangutans. (aan)