Why the Forest and the Land Burns
10/1/97
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Headline: Why the Forest and the Land Burns
Source:
Bambang Hero Saharjo
Laboratory of Forest Protection, Division of Forest Management,
Faculty of Forestry, Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia.
Present address:
Laboratory of Tropical Forest Resources and Environments,
Division of Forest and Bio-materials Science, Graduate School of Agriculture,
Kyoto
University, Kyoto 606-01, Japan
Date: 10/1/97
Abstract
Indonesia lost 3.6 million ha in 1982/1983, 5.11 million ha in 1994 and
thousands of hectares of forest and land in 1997 because of forest fires. Many
rare species vanished, erosion increased, nutrients for future growth were
lost, and many people became sick and died in the worstening environment
conditions.
99 % of this loss has been caused by human beings. Increasing populations and
economic power shift have created drastic lifestyle changes. The traditional
sense of "belonging" to the forest and land is also very low, and consideration
of profits dominate. The people have not stopped to consider the overall
consequences of burning.
Keywords: Burn, Fire, Forest, Human, Land,
Introduction
When fire broke out in East Kalimantan in 1982/1983, 3.6 million hectares of
forest and land was destroyed. This fact showed the world that tropical rain
forests can also be affected and destroyed by fire. It should be recalled
though, that a 10 month long dry season in that year also changed at that time
and subsequently. Wet leaves and branches with a greatly reduced moisture
content become very sensitive to fire.
According to Hess (1994), the totally 9.054 billion US$ lost at that time
consisted of 7.981 billion US$ for timber loss in high forest, 0.348 billion
US$ for timber loss in swamp forest, 0.373 billion US$ for non timber values,
and 0.352 billion US$ for additional costs of rehabilitation. More
significantly, however, rare species were lost, erosion increased, and there
was a great loss of nutrients for future growth. Tragically, in 1994 forest and
land destroyed, caused by fire increased to 5.11 million hectares (Goldammer,
1995); in traditional dry land farming 2.8 million ha, shifting cultivation 1.5
million ha, transmigrant farming 260,000 ha, plantations 221,000 ha,
transmigrant settlements 39,500 ha, reforestation areas 20,500 ha, timber
estates 17,000 ha, and natural forests 8,.000 ha. Along with other
consequences, as previously mentioned, airplanes were not able to take-off and
land all over the Indonesian provinces and also in neighboring countries, and
many illness were reported..
The tragedy in 1994 has replayed itself again this year in 1997. Fires,
especially in Sumatra and Kalimantan, have destroyed at least 300,000 ha of
forest and land to date as of September 1997. It has also seriously affected
other regions and neighboring countries. It has also been reported that in Riau
province from May to August 1997, over 38,445 people have been hospitalized.
Scientist have blamed the El-Nino effect for this year fire, but it must be
recalled that every year about 100,000 hectares of forest and land are
destroyed by fire in these areas.
The question is, "why does the forest and the land burns ?"
There are many things which cause forest and land to burn. Some are factual,
but other explanations are nothing but fiction. Fire will only occur if there
are three factors, namely, fire triangle, of fuel, oxygen, and the source of
the flame come together. If one of these factors is not there, or if there are
only two of these, fire will not occur. A simple exercise will explain this
fact. The people who live in a village usually burn their garbage (leaves,
branches, etc) in the morning. They arrange it in one place to burn. The smoke
will be white in color, the flame height will not be high, and it takes
some time to finish . On the contrary, if this is compared to afternoon
burnings, the smoke color changes, flame length and rate of the spread of fire
are highly affected by wind. Why it this different ? For one thing, in the
morning, air temperature is low (18-23?C), relative humidity is quite high (90-
95 %), and there is virtually no wind. These conditions contrast with
afternoon, when air temperature is 30-35?C, relative humidity
is 70-80 % and wind speed is about 60 m/minute. These factors will alter the
fuel moisture content and rate of the spread of fire. Fuel with a low moisture
content (dry) burns relatively easily compared to fuel with a high moisture
content, because more energy is needed in the ignition temperature. Other
climate factors such as relative humidity and wind speed also affect the rate
of the spread of fire. A high relative humidity will prevent fuel moisture
content from increasing. As a result we can see that burning in the morning
creates stable patterns, but uncertain patterns will emerge in the
afternoon because of wind. This is one a reason why many fires occur on the
forest and in the afternoon. Last but not least, without ignition there will be
no fire. The source of ignition is matches, and some one is responsible.
The source of fire Based on my research and 10 years experience in plantation
forest fires, shifting cultivation, and primary/secondary forest, I have
concluded that the sources of fire in the forest and land in Indonesia are
caused by human beings 99 % of the time. Only about 1 % of the occurrences can
be considered "natural". The fires are started on purpose or because of
carelessness. Many peoples in Indonesia say that lightning is one of the
natural agents in forest fires. Rainfall, however, usually follows lightning.
Based on this, the argument for lightning as an agent for forest fires become
weak and unreasonable. Others claim that the friction of dry branches on each
other can make fire, but, this is very difficult to produce. The most popular
reasoning is discarded cigarettes. If the media is a dry swamp I am sure fire
will occur, but outside this, I am not convinced. Research in the
laboratory and in the field can substantiate this. If a cigarette is fit with a
pack of a matches or attached to a soft drink filled with gasoline, as have
been found in the field, I will believe it 100 %. Bamboo sticks, 3 cm in
diameter and 70 cm long, filled with gasoline and placed In the forestland
have recently been discovered there.
Why burn ?
1. Shifting cultivation
Burning "ladang" is considered, cheap, fast and easy, and nutrition from the
ash as is obtained a result of the burning free of charge. This ash is usually
rich in organic-carbons, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, and sodium (Saharjo,
1995b). The nutritional value increases temporarily increase after burning,
however, because when rainy comes, it will be leached and decline. With
"ladang" in the first year after planting horticulture plants, they will have a
good product, but in the second year it will decline. Before burning, they will
cut the trees and shrubs, then, fell them, at last they will be
separated. The remaining trees have a diameter of 20-30 cm. Fuel load totals
nearly 40 ton/ha. These logs and shrubs will then be in storage about 2-3 weeks
in order to reduce the moisture content and make it easier to burn, and the
fire will not easily spread. Research shows that, with a fuel load of 40
ton/ha, flame temperature in the surface soil is about 700-850?C and flame
length is about 10-15 meters. 20 ha of land will burn in only about 56 minutes
(less than 1 hour). A fuel load of more than 40 ton/ha, will cause
flame temperatures of more than 900?C, flame lengths of more than 20 meters,
and heavy black smoke will emerge. After burning, the land will be covered with
an ash as white as snow, and in a week it will transform almost like a golf
course with a grassland of mainly Imperata cylindrica .
2. Industrial forest plantation area
a. Land status
When a forest plantation company wants to open an area in a government reserve,
they usually have to apply to the Ministry of Forestry for concessional rights
to exploit and establish a commercial forest plantation (HTI). The areas that
can be used to establish HTI are usually secondary forest (belukar) dominated
by Imperata cylindrica and shrubs. These areas are usually situated away from
the city. The company does not take into consideration residents living in the
area for many generations when establishing the plantations. To displace them
the company has to pay compensation. Often, it takes a long time to settle the
compensation issue and such delays affect the work schedule. The company takes
control over those areas on the assumption that compensation will be paid
later. Furthermore, people are often dissatisfied with the amount paid in
compensation, hence, there is a strain in the relationship between the
company and the people who live near the plantation (Saharjo, 1995a). Then,
they burned the plantation.
b. The contractors cheat workers
To establish the plantation, the company uses contractors to prepare the land.
Land clearance is done with heavy machinery (bulldozers and tractors), but
contractors also use fire to clear the land. After this has been done, another
team of workers carries out the planting. Payment to workers is normally not
done on time and this again gives rise to dissatisfaction among workers.
c. Staff cheat workers
Based on the contract made by the company, workers will be paid after the work
is 100 % finished. The staff who check the fields often, however, cheat workers
by saying that they only did 70 or 80 %, even though it is finished. Workers
know that the staff cheats them, and then they give a "bonus" to the company by
burning the land.
d. The staff cheat the company
Usually the company opens wide areas for plantations and for control
management this work is given staff members. This work includes land clearing,
making holes, and planting. They will receive money for this work. Because the
time for planting is limited, however, when the job is not finished, the
planting is not done properly. The trees grow poorly and the quality is low. In
order to hide this and not to be blamed for bad quality vegetation, the
plantation maybe set on fire. In just a few hours, the fire will destroy the
plantation. When the boss comes to check, he will tell him that
shifting cultivation was the cause.
Why does the plantation burn?
1. Poor maintain
In general, the plantations are not intensively maintained. This causes
the invasion of shrubs and Imperata cylindrica. A 1-year old Acacia mangium
that is not maintained well will produce a fuel load of 16.2 ton/ha, in 2-years
21.2 ton/ha, in 3-years 17 ton/ha, and in 4-years 14.5 ton/ha. This high fuel
load in the plantation will increase the risk of fire. According to Saharjo
(1996), maximum flame temperatures reached for 16.2 ton/ha of fuel load were
302-343 ?C, 343-454?C at 21.2 ton/ha, 159-302?C at 17 ton/ha and 139-302?C at
14.5 ton/ha. At 150?C, the seed of A. mangium will be destroyed (Saharjo,
1997a).
2. Lack of planning and implementation
Point 24 of the ITTO guidelines for the sustainable management of natural
tropical forest (1990) states that: "A fire management plan should be
established for each forest management unit, taking into account the degree of
risks". Fire management plans may include regular clearing of boundaries
between the forest estate and other areas, between forest blocks within the
forest estate. In areas being logged or already logged, additional safety
measures such as restrictions on use of fire and keeping corridors between
blocks free of logging debris should be specified. Advanced warning
systems, including remote sensing should be used. Unfortunately, during the
past decades, almost all exotic industrial forest plantation in the tropics
were established without considering the need for introducing recurrent fire as
a basic element of stabilizing the biological disequilibrium in fuel dynamics.
Consequently, many of these plantation are highly susceptible to high-intensity
stand replacement fires (Goldammer, 1993).
In the proposal made by forest concession in order to establish industrial
forest plantation ("HTI"), there was information about how to prevent fire
invasion, i.e., how many towers should be built, fuel breaks, equipment, fire
fighting teams, monitoring activities, etc. Unfortunately, in the plantation
area only about 20 % of this exists and even then it is just a formality. This
is to show, superficially, that the rules are being obeyed. When fire actually
comes, the situation is hopeless. The biggest problem is, there is not enough
knowledge of forest fire prevention and guidelines are based on a
lack of data and information on forest fire. It is not surprising, then, when
fire comes to the plantation and no action is taken. Vegetative fuel breaks
should be planted first and should cover the plantation. In fact, in the fields
the tree growth is slow and poorly maintained, and as a result these barriers
do not prevent fire invasion but actually fuel it (Saharjo, 1997b).
Since 1995 there have been rules prohibiting the making of fires in the forest
and farm land, why do they still do it ?
1. Shifting cultivation
The workers have been said that they never heard about this prohibition.
Even if it's true, they will not follow it, however, because they do not have
any alternatives without fire when open "ladang" season comes. Recently, many
people have cut down the rehabilitation trees that were planted nearly 15 years
ago. They destroyed these in order to replace them with gum plantations (Hevea
braziliensis). This is because of a potentially high profit if they succeed in
the planting. Some single blocks are about 30-40 ha, and we found a block in
one area of nearly 100 ha. Six or seven years after planting, there is a
potential profit of Rp.200,000/ha/month, with 25-30 years more
production possible.
As mentioned above, big trees and shrubs are first cut down and then dried
for 2-3 weeks and burned. Usually the people, work together as one big group of
between 10-15 people.
2. Forest concession
For them fire is a good tool; cheap, fast, easy and of course very economical
for a high profit. According to research, land clearance by fire only needs
Rp.400,000/ha, while without fire it will increase to Rp.1.2 million; three
times higher. They say proudly why should we do land clearance without fire
when it is expensive, time consuming and complicated.
If they burn land for clearance, the minimum area is around 40 ha. Dominated by
logs 20-30 cm in diameter, the fuel load will become around 40 ton/ha. Flame
temperature will increase to more than 900?C. Flame length will climb to more
than 20 meters with heavy black smoke. After burning, a white ash will cover
the forest floor.
3. No punishment
Forest concessors burn the land because it is cheap, fast, easy and very
profitable, Along with that, there is no punishment for some one who sets the
forest on fire, even while the rule is very strict. Even when fire destroys the
plantation, the company will say it was from natural causes. This condition
creates conditions where anybody can take part in burning the forest and land
throughout daily life.
Conclusion
Forest fire destroyed 3.6 million ha of forest and land in 1982/1983, 5.11
million ha in 1994, and nearly 300,000 ha as of September 1997. At least
100,000 ha is lost every year. Human beings are responsible for 99 % of this
fire. They burn the forest and land for they daily needs significant financial
gain. Fire is a good tool, being cheap, fast and easy to use.
After burning the sky will become black because of heavy smoke, and it may take
days to suppress it. Environmental conditions worst and many people get sick
and hospitalized. Economics and politics are also affected. To prevent all of
this, those who start the fires illegally should be prosecuted and put in jail.
The shifting cultivators, should also be given alternative ways so as not to
use fire in the "ladang" in order to opening they land. Forest concessions and
farm should also be equipped with tools for forest fire suppression.
solutions the potential of residual stands after affected by fire. Workshop on
forest
rehabilitation and forest protection from fire. Samarinda, 31 January-2
February
1994. 20 pp
ITTO. 1990. Guidelines for the sustainable management of planted tropical
forests.
Yokohama. Japan. 38 p
Saharjo, B.H. 1995a. Fire management in a newly established Acacia mangium
plantation in South Sumatra. Wallaceana 74: 7-9
Saharjo, B.H. 1995b. The changes in soil chemical properties following burning
in a
shifting cultivation area in South Sumatra. Wallaceana 75:23-26
Saharjo, B.H. 1996. Disappearance of a newly established Acacia mangium willd
plantation by fire in South Sumatra. Tropical Forest Management Journal II(1):
65-72
Saharjo, B.H. 1997a. The effect of fire on the seed germination of Acacia
mangium in a
forest plantation in South Sumatra, Indonesia. Commonwealth Forestry Review
76(2): 128-131
Saharjo, B.H. 1997b. Industrial forest plantation based on the view point of
forest fire:
A case study in South Sumatra, Indonesia. Voluntary paper for 15th
Commonwealth Conference. Zimbabwe, May 12-17, 1997. 6 p.