Yearly forest fires cause Rp 240 trillion in loses

Yearly forest fires cause Rp 240 trillion in loses

JAKARTA (JP): Forest fires destroy about 30 million cubic
meters of Indonesian forest every year, causing estimated losses
of Rp 240 trillion (around US$96 billion), State Minister of
Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said yesterday.

Sarwono said the losses were caused by forest fires and
controlled burning of forest to clear land for plantations and
housing.

"About 90 percent of controlled burning is done by large
forestry and plantation companies and the government-sponsored
transmigration program," he said after opening a workshop on
forest fire prevention and management.

Only 10 percent was done by locals, he said.

This year, fire razed 9,233 hectares of forest -- 3,633
hectares of industrial and conserved forests and 5,600 hectares
of oil palm plantations -- he said.

Fire caused Rp 20 billion in losses and immeasurable
ecological damage, he said.

"Forest burning damages the soil as it kills all the useful
microorganisms which made the land productive," he said.

He cited as an example a study that showed Sumatra had lost
about 300,000 tons of much needed compost in controlled forest
burning.

Smoke from fires also caused pollution, and could disrupt
transportation in other areas, he said.

Neighboring countries, including Singapore, Malaysia and
Brunei Darussalam have filed complaints with the Agency for
Environment Control because fires in Indonesia disrupt their
transportation industries causing financial losses.

These countries had to close their airports for several days
during the big forest fires in 1994, he said.

Sarwono said large companies favored controlled forest burning
over other ways of clearing land, because it cost half as much as
other means.

Clearing land without burning also took longer and was more
difficult, he said.

Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo urged
plantation and forestry companies yesterday to stop controlled
burning.

"We can tolerate local people clearing land in a traditional
way by burning the forest, but plantation companies can afford
other ways of clearing land," Djamaludin said.

He said about 550,000 hectares was in danger of being burned
to make way for 300,000 hectares targeted for industrial forest,
200,000 hectares for plantations, and 50,000 for the
transmigration program.

Yesterday's workshop was attended by representatives of local
forestry and environmental agencies as well as plantation and
forestry businesses. (das)