Forestry Minister Counts the Cost of Forest Fires
10/6/97
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Headline: Forestry Minister Counts the Cost of Forest Fires
Source: Agence France-Presse
Date: 10/6/97
Byline: Jason Tedjasukmana
Copyright 1997 by Agence France-Presse
JAKARTA, Oct 6 (AFP) - Forest fires have cut a 96,000 hectare
(237,120 acre) scar across Indonesia and cost more than 45 billion
rupiah (12.5 million dollars) in other damage, a minister said
Monday.
Forestry Minister Jamaluddin Suryohadikusomo said the financial
loss had come from 15,600 hectares (38,532 acres) of plantations
being used to grow profitable commodities such as palm oil and
rubber.
The remaining 80,000 hectares were forest areas, including
protected and national forests, Suryohadikusumo said, giving his
ministry's first estimate of damage.
He said companies found guilty of illegal burning would be held
accountable for damage and faced having operating licenses revoked.
The government has already revoked 151 licenses for 29 companies
who were unable to disprove allegations supported by satellite
images that the fires burning on their land had been started
deliberately.
Of the 151 permits, 69 were held by four government companies,
the Media Indonesia daily reported.
A company controlled by timber baron Mohammad "Bob" Hasan, a
confidante of President Suharto, was among the companies that had
licenses withdrawn last Friday.
Hasan last week rejected blame for the fires, maintaining that
small farmers and brush fires were mainly responsible for the
destruction of up to 800,000 hectares (1.97 million acres) of
forests this year, according to non-official estimates from
satellite images.
Suryohadikusomo said the fires in plantations had begun to
subside and that most of the fires still burning were in beach areas where
small farmers were still burning land.
"But they (the farmers) should not be blamed as they are poor
and have no money," Suryohadikusumo said.
He said the government was training 8,600 personnel with
financial assistance from the United States, Canada and Germany to
fight fires that have cast a pall of choking smoke over much of
Indonesia and neighboring countries.
Air quality has reached alarming poor levels in provinces
throughout the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan while areas in Java were
also reporting a deterioration in air quality Monday.
Sukardi, the deputy chief of the state-run Environmental Impact
Management Agency, said the fires that have ravaged several
mountainous areas on Java had "influenced the air quality in some
cities on the northern coast, particularly Jakarta."
Sukardi said the number of serious fires and the amount of haze
coming from the fires had decreased but added that the problem was
not over yet, Media Indonesia reported.
"Although the number of hot spots have gone down considerably,
in some areas the haze is still thick, like in South Sumatra, Jambi,
Bengkulu, West Sumatra and South Kalimantan," he said.
Bengkulu and Jambi are provinces on Sumatra.
The smog has also disrupted aviation and sea traffic in addition
to causing respiratory complications for more than 40,000 people,
six of whom have died from smoke-related ailments.
A Jambi meteorology office employee told AFP on Monday the haze
"is still very bad today" with daytime visibility of about 10 meters
(yards).
"It was somewhat better on Friday and Saturday, but it has
deteriorated again since Sunday," he said.
He added that most kindergarten and elementary school children,
who were supposed to resume lessons on Monday after being ordered to stay
home since the end of September, were kept at home.
JAMBI, INDONESIA, 6-OCT-97: Members of an Indonesian family cover
their faces as they ride through smoke-filled Jambi, Sumatra October 6.
Hundreds of Indonesian forest fires are causing a haze across most of
Southeast Asia, drawing health concerns for millions of people. [Photo by
Jason Reed, Reuters]
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