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)