Choking Haze Blankets S.E. Asia; Indonesia Blamed for Inability to
Control Forest Fires
8/15/99
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Title: Choking Haze Blankets S.E. Asia; Indonesia Blamed for Inability to
Control Forest Fires
Source: The Washington Post
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: August 15, 1999
Byline: Keith B. Richburg
JAKARTA, Indonesia- The haze is back.
Two years after Southeast Asia was enveloped in a debilitating smog--
stinging lungs, and causing chaos to shipping lanes and aviation
routes--smoke from forest fires in the Indonesian provinces Sumatra
and Kalimantan is once again blanketing the sky, raising questions
about the government's resolve to contain what is becoming a
perennial crisis.
In the last few weeks, schools have been closed in Riau province on
Sumatra island, where a state of emergency was declared because of
the haze. More than 300 people have been admitted to hospitals,
mostly suffering from respiratory problems. And the haze is being
blamed for the collision of a tanker and barge last week that left a
dozen people dead.
Haze was already sending pollution indexes to record levels across
the Malacca Strait in Singapore and Malaysia, where the world's
tallest buildings, the twin Petronas towers, were obscured by smog,
and in Brunei, which has threatened to sue Indonesia. The Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will hold a crisis meeting at the
end of the month for regional environmental ministers to address the
problem.
By week's end, rain had decreased the number of fires and reduced the
number of "hot spots" visible by satellite. Schools in Riau were able
to reopen. But environmental experts warned that the reprieve was
only temporary: The areas being burned this year may be even larger
than in 1997. With this just the start of the burning season, the
region is once again facing an ecological and health catastrophe.
"It's just started," said Longgena Ginting, coordinator of the forest
advocacy program for the Indonesian Forum for the Environment. "We're
pessimistic about the fires this year, and we predict they will be
bigger."
He said the underlying cause of the fires--blamed on the practice of
large plantation of burning wooded land to clear it for planting--is
Indonesia's rapid conversion of its forests to agricultural use. He
said Indonesia is deforested at a rate of 12.4 million acres each
year.
The World Wide Fund for Nature said it had identified 37 plantations
in Sumatra and Kalimantan responsible for most of the fires.
Today, environmental groups said the number of hot spots in Sumatra
was down to 128, from a high of 342 on Aug. 2; a hot spot is defined
as 250 burning acres.
Many here accused the government of President B.J. Habibie of failure
to take action to prevent the fires because it did not penalize
agribusinesses identified as responsible for the latest round.
In 1997, when former president Suharto was in power, the government
identified 176 companies suspected of involvement in the fires. But
local environmental groups said none of those companies--some of
which were politically connected to the ruling elite--was ever
punished. The government blamed small-scale farmers for starting the
fires, but investigations by local environmental groups found that 94
percent were caused by large plantations.
Longgena's group sued 11 of those companies in Sumatra and six in
South Kalimantan, but both suits were dismissed when the courts said
there was not enough evidence linking the companies to the fires.
Habibie, speaking at an environmental conference here last week,
ordered immediate action to stop the fires, saying: "We must ensure
that our forest is not burned because of our negligence. If this
happens, our environment will be more damaged."
But critics said inaction by a weak government hobbled by other more
immediate crises--from bank scandals to ethnic violence to separatist
insurgencies--was precisely the problem.
""We have so many laws to prevent the fires, but none are effective,"
said Bambang Hero Saharjo, a forestry expert and consultant with the
World Wide Fund for Nature. "Habibie has asked people to stop the
fires. But if there's no implementation, then it's just words."
The ASEAN regional group has implemented a "haze action plan" to
coordinate strategies for fighting the blazes, sharing information
about the location of blazes and strengthening firefighting
capabilities. A regular update on the fires is provided online
(www.haze-online.or.id).
But even ASEAN concedes that the first job in controlling the blazes
lies with Indonesia, and the government's response so far has been
found wanting. "It's pretty slow," said Rodolfo C. Severino, the
secretary general. "It's [a question of] resources. Plus, Indonesia
is in a transition, so it's difficult to get its act together."