UNEP chief set to meet Soeharto

UNEP chief set to meet Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): Executive Director of the Nairobi-based United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Dr. Klaus Topfer, is
scheduled to meet President Soeharto today to review UN relief
contributions to help control forest fires in Indonesia.

Topfer, who coordinates the UN response to environmental
disasters, will also hold talks with Minister of Forestry and
Plantations Sumahadi, State Minister of Environment Juwono
Sudarsono and other senior officials.

Meanwhile, Antara reported from Samarinda, in the fire-
blighted province of East Kalimantan, that the German-funded
Integrated Forest Fire Management (IFFM) project had said poor
law enforcement was fostering the spread of forest fires in
Indonesia. It called on the government to be tough with
plantation and timber companies which started fires.

IFFM team leader Ludwig Schneider said Tuesday the regulation
banning the burning of forest in concession areas was poorly
implemented and inadequately controlled.

"Many of the fires in East Kalimantan are burning in timber
and plantation concession company land," he said, adding that
land use policy and forest conversion also contributed to the
problem.

Meanwhile, AFP reported yesterday that the United Nations is
planning an international conference of donor states to discuss
plans to help Indonesia deal with the devastating forest fires.

It quoted Ravi Rajan, the United Nations representative in
Jakarta, as saying that a UN disaster assessment team flew to the
worst-hit province of East Kalimantan yesterday. It was hoped
their findings and those of Topfer's team would provide the basis
for the meeting, he added.

"We are hoping this will lead to a donor conference in Geneva
in mid-April," Rajan told AFP, adding that a wide range of
options, including the provision of equipment and the deployment
of foreign firefighters, could be discussed.

"What we do recognize is the need to fight fires on the
ground."

The key to countering the fires, which have razed 130,000
hectares (32,000 acres) in East Kalimantan this year, was
mobilizing people, he said, adding that a "food-for-firefighting"
program could be considered.