Fear of Indonesian Fires Rekindled

***********************************************

WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

***********************************************

Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Archives

http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest Conservation

6/24/99

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by EE

There are indications that Indonesia's forests may again be at risk of

burning. Such large areas of forest landscapes have been impacted

upon by heavy selective logging and plantation development that the

conditions are very suitable for historically unprecedented blazes.

The crisis is one of tropical land use, and what is appropriate and

sustainable. The last major expanses of unfragmented rainforest in

the World, and Indonesia in particular, must be maintained. If any

development is to occur, it must include managing for expansive forest

cover, with the vast majority of land area in intact ecological cores,

and suitably placed and scaled forest management activities within the

context of this intact ecological matrix. Any sustainable development

in tropical forests requires managing for the context. This is the

difference between a sea of forest degradation with islands of forests

(parks), or a sea of intact forest, with islands of sustainable

development. There is no other way to maintain the composition and

functionality of remaining tropical rainforest ecosystems in their

natural state for the long run. Time is running short for the

international community to engage and reverse the crisis playing

itself out in rainforests--a crisis which will largely determine the

state of the biosphere in the next millennia. A major international

program of paying countries to forgo short-term cash flow from the

timber boom, and stabilizing and restoring buffers along the receding

forest frontiers, will be required at the minimum. We all have a part

to play.

g.b.

*******************************

RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Title: Fear of Fires Rekindled As Jakarta Is Distracted

Asian Neighbors Doubt Indonesia Can Address Environmental

Needs

Source: International Herald Tribune

Date: June 22, 1999

Byline: Michael Richardson

SINGAPORE - Recent satellite images show an ominous increase in forest

fires in Indonesia, raising concerns in neighboring Singapore,

Malaysia and Brunei that the choking blanket of smoke-borne pollution

that covered much of the region in 1997 and early 1998 - disrupting

tourism and transport and endangering public health - may soon return.

But this time, officials say, there is even less chance of Indonesia

taking effective action to prevent the fires from starting, and to put

them out when they do, because it is struggling to contain sectarian

and separatist conflicts in various parts of the country amid its

worst economic and political crisis in more than 30 years.

Under the reformist but weak government of President B.J. Habibie that

replaced the military-backed rule of President Suharto nearly a year

ago, the companies and farmers in Indonesia that use fire as a cheap

way of clearing land for agriculture and commercial plantations of

palm oil, rubber and timber are no longer afraid to flout the law.

''With reforms, people are not scared of the authorities,'' said

Haryono Suyono, the Indonesian official who heads the national team

for disaster relief and control in Jakarta.

Officials of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank say that

the specter of renewed smog in Southeast Asia is a symptom of a wider

problem - the heavy environmental impact of the East Asian economic

slump and the political changes it has wrought.

As recession has replaced turbo-charged growth in many East Asian

countries, the tax revenues, resources and political will of

governments to tackle environmental problems they see as a relatively

low priority have declined sharply.

''The risk here is that, in the effort to restart the engine of

growth, concern about damage to the environment may lessen,'' said

Tadao Chino, president of the Asian Development Bank, which opens its

annual meeting Friday in Manila.

Several decades of economic expansion have produced severe cases of

air pollution in Asian cities, while industrial growth and demand for

raw materials and food from a burgeoning population have caused

widespread deforestation, soil degradation, water shortages and

overfishing.

Kristalina Georgieva, head of environment and social development for

the East Asian and Pacific region at the World Bank in Washington,

warned that because of the official preoccupation with reviving

growth, the region risks missing ''a pivotal opportunity'' to correct

mistakes made in the past and ''lay the foundation for a cleaner,

greener and healthier'' economic development.

''The crisis threatens to reverse recent efforts to correct the

negative environmental impacts of 'grow first, clean up later'

development policies,'' she said. ''The risk is growing that some

countries may fall once again into environmental neglect.''

The economic slowdown in East Asia has reduced demand for some raw

materials, such as logs, and lowered air pollution in many cities

because there are now fewer cars and trucks in the streets.

In Indonesia, for example, the forest-products industry, which is a

major exporter, was until recently able to disregard calls for tighter

environmental controls. But a report by the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta

said that decreased demand from Asian customers had made Europe, North

America, Australia and New Zealand - where environmental awareness and

import standards are high - relatively more important customers for

the Indonesian forestry industry.

But overall, Miss Georgieva said, the balance is against the

environment.

''Logging, fishing and mining activities have grown to generate export

earnings and to support subsistence of the rural poor,'' she said.

''Industrial and municipal treatment facilities have been forced to

cut back operations, and untreated wastewater, solid waste discharges

and illegal dumping have increased. In some countries, budget cuts

have placed environmental programs in jeopardy.''

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, is clearly among

the countries in East Asia most severely affected by the environmental

consequences of recession.

''If in 1997 we had so many problems in confronting the haze monster,

you can imagine what is going to happen now,'' with fewer resources,

Mr. Haryono said, referring to clouds of choking smoke haze from

massive forest fires in Indonesia's Borneo and Sumatra islands that

were carried by prevailing winds across Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei

and even as far as southern Thailand and the Philippines.

The Indonesian fires destroyed 5 million hectares (12 million acres)

of forest and scrub and caused an estimated $4.4 billion of damage,

mainly to tourism, air and shipping services, and public health.

The recent upsurge in bush fires in central Sumatra was close to large

networks of logging tracks and plantation areas, said Lim Hock,

director of the satellite monitoring center at the National University

of Singapore. He said he did not expect the fires to develop ''into a

widespread situation like 1997,'' because of the dampening effect of

the La Nia weather phenomenon that has followed the El Nio-induced

drought.

But Yeo Cheow Tong, the environment and health minister of Singapore,

said Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei were concerned about the

possibility of huge fires breaking out again in Indonesia at the

height of the July-August dry season.

The Singapore senior state minister for the environment, Sidek Saniff,

said that about 80 percent of the slash-and-burn forest clearance in

Indonesia was carried out for commercial purposes. As a result,

Indonesia's fellow members of the Association of South East Asian

Nations recently gave Jakarta until mid-July to implement a policy

that requires the authorities to prevent new land-clearing fires and

take action against errant plantation owners.

Malaysia and Brunei have amended their laws so that a plantation owner

is presumed to be liable for a fire near his property unless he can

prove he did not cause it. The ASEAN governments want Indonesia to

adopt this system as well.

Mr. Haryono said that Jakarta had gotten ''the firm message'' from

ASEAN to curb forest fires but could not respond effectively without

help from Singapore and Malaysia in the form of aircraft for cloud-

seeding operations, technical assistance and training in fire

monitoring.

###RELAYED TEXT ENDS###

This document is a PHOTOCOPY for educational, personal and non-

commercial use only. Recipients should seek permission from the

source for reprinting. All efforts are made to provide accurate,

timely pieces; though ultimate responsibility for verifying all

information rests with the reader. Check out our Gaia Forest

Conservation Archives at URL= http://forests.org/

Networked by Ecological Enterprises, gbarry@forests.org