UN not optimistic over forest fire situation
JAKARTA (JP): The United Nations is not optimistic that its contributions to help fight forest fires in East Kalimantan will bring the situation under control, a senior visiting UN official said here yesterday.
"We are not optimistic, not at all. We are very realistic, but we believe that it is a must to prove that the UN is concerned and wants the best answer to the problem," said executive director of the Nairobi-based United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Klaus Topfer.
The UN has decided to coordinate the efforts of its various agencies such as the UN Development Program, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization in the fight against the fires and their consequences.
A UN disaster response team has been on the ground in the province assessing the scale of the emergency and meetings on the forest fires are due to be held in Geneva on April 20 and April 21.
Topfer said fires raging in the province were catastrophic with huge global implications.
He described the impact of the razed 155,000 hectares of forest this year as a "real catastrophe... a disaster with enormous economic repercussions".
"It's not a national or a regional problem, it is a problem of global concern," he added.
The latest satellite images of the province show that the fires are continuing to multiply and spread.
Topfer said that if the fires could not be extinguished, then efforts must concentrate on ensuring they did not spread further.
Different factors, both natural and human, have been blamed for the fires and their intensity. The two most often cited are the prolonged dry season due to the El Nino weather phenomenon and the deliberate burning of forests by timber concessionaires.
Legal action
Topfer, who held talks with President Soeharto on Thursday, said strong legal action should be taken against people "who are directly linked to the fires".
"This was not only my idea but this was also mentioned by the environment minister (Juwono Sudarsono) and it was even mentioned by the President himself," Topfer said.
He added that strong monitoring and legal control, combined with education, would be key in preventing the problem from reoccurring in the future.
Much of Indonesia has been suffering from drought since mid- 1997, causing widespread crop damage and leaving forests dangerously dry.
East Kalimantan has seen little rain since December.
Environmentalists say underground peat and coal seams could smolder for months.
The latest fires have raised fears of a repeat of last year's devastating Southeast Asian haze, which saw much of the region blanketed by choking smog, causing widespread health problems and disrupting transportation systems.
Topfer said last year's fires generated carbon dioxide emissions close to that produced by industrialized Europe. The fires had also threatened the home of 10 percent to 12 percent of the world's biodiversity.
Government officials have said that most of the fires were deliberately lit by farmers or by timber and plantation companies in order to clear land.
Juwono said Thursday that timber estates were responsible for about 65 percent of the fires now burning in East Kalimantan.
Critics complain that Indonesia has done little to punish those responsible for starting the fires, including some big companies with close government links.
Topfer was due to leave Jakarta later yesterday for Brunei where he will take part in a two-day regional meeting of environment ministers starting today. (byg)