Sarwono warns of severe grought predicted for 2000
Sarwono warns of severe grought predicted for 2000
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia should anticipate a severe drought in
2000 which is expected to be as intense as this year's, State
Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said yesterday.
Sarwono was reported by Antara as saying that data showed that
in the past few years, the drought cycle was becoming shorter,
from every five years to every three years at present.
"The drought in 2000 is not something that will certainly
happen ... but this assumption should be trusted," Sarwono said
at a seminar here commemorating the 34th anniversary of the
National Outer Space and Aviation Agency (LAPAN).
According to the data, he said, droughts occurred in 1987,
1991, 1994, and 1997.
"The changes in the cycle are related to climatic change
caused by the increasing level of greenhouse gases from
industrial countries," he said.
He said he would therefore urge industrial countries at the
Kyoto Climate Change Summit to be held in December to reduce
emissions.
During the seminar, Sarwono encouraged other related
institutions to prepare for the expected drought using
information from research agencies such as LAPAN, the Meteorology
and Geophysics Agency, and the Agency for the Assessment and
Application of Technology.
He called on research agencies to share their information with
related institutions.
In the past, he said, different data and information obtained
by each institution meant planning efforts were often disjointed
and uncoordinated.
"The different information prompted a disparate perception of
the problems," Sarwono said.
In the case of forest fires, for instance, local authorities
predicted that fires would affect 4,000 hectares while a ministry
predicted it was 500 hectares.
The problem became clear after authorities used remote sensing
technology.
"Many believed that the information could be considered useful
only if it was controlled," he said.
"This is why there were those who hampered (dissemination of
results of) maritime meteorology research on grounds that they
were strategic in nature and could not be obtained by outsiders.
"After the haze problem, hopefully we can make some
corrections and obstacles toward the dissemination of information
can be eliminated," he said.
This year's drought has caused extensive damage. It not only
sparked forest fires that ravaged more than 300,000 hectares of
land and forest, causing choking haze to envelop Indonesia and
some neighboring countries, but also frightened away foreign
tourists and led to food shortages and disease which killed some
500 people.
The government has not yet announced its estimation of
financial losses incurred as a result of the drought-related
problems. (swe)