UN urges RI to punish firms starting fires

GENEVA (Reuters): The United Nations, warning that Indonesia's fires threaten to become a global disaster, urged Jakarta on Tuesday to discipline timber and plantation firms that illegally clear forests for profit by setting them on fire.

Klaus Toepfer, head of the UN Environment Program (UNEP) and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special coordinator for the crisis, called on the government to quickly identify and expose guilty firms to tackle the root cause of the problem.

"The enforcement of law is absolutely necessary to identify those companies responsible," Toepfer told a media conference at the end of a two-day meeting of firefighting experts in Geneva.

"The behavior of the big plantation companies must be criticized and must be stopped," added the former German minister who heads the Bonn-based agency. "There is a link."

Most of the fires were set by farmers and companies clearing land for profit. Some have alleged that this was sometimes done with the government's tacit approval.

The fires, exacerbated by a severe drought caused by the El Nino weather pattern, have razed over 200,000 hectares of forested land in East Kalimantan this year, damaging the habitat of endangered animals and fueling a toxic smog.

The choking haze has shut down airports and caused health problems as far away as Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia.

At the Geneva meeting, experts on brush and forest fires agreed on an urgent action plan that envisaged the provision of equipment and training for 1,000 local firefighters, aircraft, communications and logistical support at a cost of US$10 million.

But the world body admitted things were likely to get worse.

A UN report following an emergency mission to Indonesia this month -- when Toepfer met President Soeharto -- warned that the fires currently raging in Indonesia would probably be worse than in 1997, when outbreaks only began during the dry season in September.

"If the fires in East Kalimantan cannot be brought under control and continue to expand... then these conditions which caused the severe international impact in 1997 may again create haze conditions which will affect the populations of Malaysia and Singapore," the report said.

"It is likely that dry conditions will persist until October which could exacerbate the current fire conditions in East Kalimantan and increase the risk of an extensive haze plume in the middle of the year," it added.

"Unchecked land, brush and forest fires are threatening to become a disaster of regional and global proportions," the report said. "It is not merely firefighting any more, it is a war against fires and requires large-scale mobilization."

Toepfer said fires were raging out of control at 1,000 hotspots according to the latest satellite images.

He called on early warning systems to be put in place as well as a global information system to raise awareness.

He said the problem was not manpower but the training and expertise needed to combat fires raging over a huge area.

"Indonesia has more than 14,000 firefighting people. But equipment without training is not of any use. Military forces should also be better involved," he said.

"It seems impossible to fight all these fires. We need to set priorities with regards to repercussions for human health and environment."