WWF puts cost of 1997 haze for RI at $1 billion

WWF puts cost of 1997 haze for RI at $1 billion

JAKARTA (JP): Last year's haze resulting from forest fires in
Sumatra and Kalimantan cost Indonesia US$1 billion in lost
revenue and health care expenditure, according to the World Wide
Fund for Nature.

The organization yesterday announced results of an assessment
carried out jointly with the Singapore-based Economy and
Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA).

Ninety percent of the loss was incurred through expenditure on
short-term health care. A further $90 million was attributed to
lost tourist revenue, canceled flights, and airport closures, the
two groups said in a statement.

"Indonesia could have used these lost resources to provide
basic sanitation, water and sewage services for 40 million
people, or about one third of the rural poor," EEPSEA director
David Glover said in the report.

Total damage inflicted on Southeast Asia exceeded $1.3
billion, the statement said. In addition to the damage in
Indonesia, the fires cost Malaysia an estimated $300 million and
Singapore $12 million.

Regional loss in tourist revenue is put at $256 million, 18
percent of the total damage. Tourist revenues are an important
source of foreign currency which has been acutely missed during
the financial crisis which has hit Southeast Asia, the two groups
said.

The study's conclusions were conservative and did not take
into account the cost of long-term health effects, which it said
may persist for decades and eventually exceed the cost of short-
term health effects. Direct damage from the fire was also
withheld from the analysis. However, the statement issued by the
two groups said it was possible that this cost exceeded the
damage caused by the haze.

"The loss of forest resources such as timber and rattan, the
damage to biodiversity and the health of forest ecosystems has
been enormous," WWF forest conservation advisor Togu Manurung
said.

Last year's fires, blamed on land clearing by Indonesian
plantation and timber companies, sent a thick haze over Singapore
and parts of Malaysia and Thailand for several months last year.

The total area of land burned last year is unknown but the two
groups believe European Union estimates of two million hectares
to be conservative.

Fires have now restarted in the province of East Kalimantan
and in some parts of Riau, Sumatra. An Indonesian climate expert,
speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Jakarta Post
yesterday that fires in East Kalimantan this year could be even
worse than last year.

"East Kalimantan is where El Nio first affected Indonesia
last year, and it will end near the same place this June, unless
it is prolonged (and) lasts until the end of this year," he said.

Under a worst case scenario, "the forest fires will continue,
and Malaysia and Singapore will be blanketed in haze next
September and October," he said.

The imminent threat of the haze returning yesterday prompted
ASEAN countries to call for international help in fighting the
fires in East Kalimantan.

The appeal came in a statement issued by ASEAN environment
ministers in Kuching, Malaysia, after a one-day meeting to
discuss ways of dealing with the fires.

"The meeting noted that the fires in East Kalimantan are of
serious concern because of the prolonged dry weather and welcomed
any immediate international assistance, especially in enhancing
fire-fighting capacity," the ministers said in a statement quoted
by AFP. (aan)