Sarwono shocked at Java's forest fires

JAKARTA (JP): Five thousand five hundred hectares of the 10,339 hectares of forest destroyed by fire over the past year were in Central and East Java, State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja revealed yesterday.

"It's shocking that most of the forest fires in Indonesia last year happened on Java," Sarwono said in a review of the environmental damage caused by fires here yesterday.

He was speaking in his capacity as the chief of the Center for the Control of Forest and Land Fires. He blamed the high rate of forest fires on human irresponsibility.

The most extensive forest damage in Java was found around Baluran in East Java and Mt. Slamet in Central Java.

The other provinces affected were Lampung, Riau, East and West Nusa Tenggara, and the four provinces in Kalimantan.

In 1995, 6,700 hectares of forest across the country were destroyed by fire. Areas hit by fires this year include Riau, Lampung and Jambi, following prolonged dry spells there and the rapid growth of agribusiness activities, such as the opening of new land and plantations.

In 1994, drought contributed to the fires that damaged 162,000 hectares of forests. Smoke from the fires disrupted flights at a number of airports in Riau and Kalimantan, and spread to Malaysia and Singapore.

"We should learn from past experience. Each region in Indonesia needs to handle the problem of forest fires in accordance with its own situation," Sarwono said.

He stressed that as most forest fire in Java were caused by negligence, such as people throwing smoldering cigarette butts onto dry wood, the country needed to set up programs to educate the public about the need to be careful when using fire.

In regions where forest fires were caused by forests being opened for business activities, programs should target businessmen, he said.

Sarwono dismissed allegations that the government had become defensive when speaking about its handling of forest fires.

"The government has never acted defensively," he said. "I've escorted officials from neighboring countries to forests to show them how determined we are to tackle forest fires." (swe/aan)