Borneo Needs 25 Years to Recover from Forest Fires
10/13/97
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Headline: Borneo Needs 25 Years to Recover from Forest Fires
Source: Agence France-Presse
Date: 10/13/97
Copyright 1997 by Agence France-Presse
JAKARTA, Oct 13 (AFP) - The rare environment on Central Borneo
will take a quarter of a century to recover from the forest and
brush fires which have ravaged Indonesia throughout the summer, a
report said here Monday.
"It (Central Kalimantan province) needs 25 years to recover the
damaged environment, after this year's forest fires," a local
environment official, Britasi Saloh, said quoted by the state Antara
news agency.
Saloh, speaking over the weekend in the provincial capital of
Palangkaraya, said the fires have caused "immeasurable"
environmental damage to the ecosystem.
He pointed out the fires had led to a loss of vegetation and a
reduction in water absorption capacity.
"If the land vegetation is vanished, the region will face bigger
disasters such as floods," Soleh said.
The air pollution in Palangkaraya, due to the haze from the
fires, has been dozens of times above the tolerable limit, he said.
The fires have according to some estimates destroyed up to
800,000 hectares of forests (1.9 million acres) in Indonesia this
year, with Borneo and Sumatra bearing the brunt of the damage,
causing a choking haze of smoke which has blanketed much of the
archipelago as well as neighboring countries.
The government revoked the timber-use permits of 29 companies
earlier this month for failing to prove their innocence, amid
allegations that fires burning in their areas had been deliberately
set.
Indonesian Forestry Minister Jamaluddin Suryohadikusumo last
week admitted the government have not managed the country's forests
in a sustainable manner.
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