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Forest Fires Wreak Wide Havoc
*** Forest fhe» ragiag throughout Indonesia have caused chaos in several countries of Southeast Asia. They have also unleashed a fierce debate. with Indonesian and Malaysian politicians accusing industrialised countries of not matching rhetoric with deeds in trying to save the world’s tropical forests. Jakarta, reports Gemini News Service, has also faced internal criticism for not foreseeing the fires and getting them put out at an early stage. By Stephen Carr ***
HUOS bw burning an three af Ind onsets * bigg sot totaads hare created
• somIm to" over Southcasi Aata. disrupted communfc attests. rnussd ptanM to crash tai ships to oriMte and tod to hsakh Brabham
Tltablgffist conftaffiatinn -astd the main one stlfi out of control - to an Borneo the largest. remotest and most haav% forested Island In the archipelago. It has ragsd for mentis far from Inhabited ar-em and to reachable only by hefecopter
The worst drought for 30 years to bebeved responsible for the blase. The mins In Indometa norwmlly start tn hrplrrobrr This year they did not begin until November. Dead wood or surface coal de aoatta may have Ignited tn the ■W
Some Indonesian officials fear the fire could turn out to be Just aa devastating as one that raged through Borneo tn 1882-3. That was the biggest the world has ever seen and destroyed about three and a hall million hectares. Its chai ted devastation to still vto-fole today In the current fire, about 100.000 hectares are bettered lost so far.
On other tafands. particu tarty Sumatra and Java. the »m - now reported out or under control — are thought to be man-made. Satellite sho-tographs show Jungle clearance by logging companies, ptanfsttona and timber estates to to blame. Elghty-five fires have alao been reported this year on South Sulawesi, the soot of Borneo.
South Sumatra's Forestry Ministry chief blames private companies. A senior military BM. Brigadier General Theo ^afci has atao dfamlased ideas that nomadic slash-and-burn farmers to blame.
An international argument started when Malaysia's prickly Maa Minister. Mahathir Mohammed, ever sensitive to Criticism of his country's environmental policies, attacked Western nations. He accused the West of being quick to threaten timber boycotts while doing nothing to help fight the fires. The Indonesian Foreign Mlntoter agreed.
Paulus Wtnarso. chief Indonesian ffiremmcht mete orologlst. insisted there Was as choice but to let nature tabc Ka course and wall for the rains. "The most we can do."
tec said. "ta seed clouds tn the hope that this will teeing min footer.'
Cloud seeding normally takes ptace betMen dry and rainy seasons. but attempts above a West Jovan reservoir were interrupted thia year because the atmosphere was Jud^d not humid enough.
Of Indonesia's neighbours. Malaysia and Singapore have been most affected by the fires Smoke blanketed Singapore, moot of Malaysia s towns and some communities in southern Thailand, as well as Brunel. Malaysia caBqd an emergency meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and suggested the fires be water-bombed from the air. •
reported tacreaerd respiratory and eye prabtems Malaysian health oflMab warned the very old and young and people with breathing difficulties. to stay Indoors.
The fires are thought to haw caused scores of boat col Katona, tn mid-October, two freighters collided off South Sumatra tn thick smoke Another time a ship hit a tug Smoke also disrupted shipping In the Malacca Straits, the world's busiest waterway.
Malaysia’s main port in Selangor state was stopped. Visibility was reduced to half a nautical miie^and^pilots using port.
Hie fire* have liad a devas-
tating effect on aviation. At least two planes have crashed — one with 16 pueeengi-r» and Iwo rew aver Central Horneu. another In West Kahnwntoa. Borneo. kifitog one person and injuring sight. Hundreds of (fights haw been conceited.
lai organiMtiona have criticised their government for not responding to the fires, which occur every dry season. Hadi Pramono. spokesman for Indonesian Friends of the Earth, said the authorities could team from slash-and-burn farmers' ex pert les In isolating fires Instead, they complain about Inadequate equipment and lack of funds.
Another group. the
1 ri d n - x I a n Forest
Canrerrettea Network. feuka uuilioritiM for having no aarty warning system. Both groups srenl the government to ewl led "fire foes' from holders of
They leave 36 to 40 per eent af the wood they cut lyHM tn the forest ' said Pratnono. It can easily catch fire." ,
Meanwhile. overseas help has arrived. A team from Australia which studied si torsi deliberately started fires tn Hbriwo has urged that timber waste be stacked and dried be-
Advteers Mid tees smoke would accumulate if smaller fires were Ml over a longer period. Coal seams be buried to deprive them of the oxygen that feeds fires. Better training of firefighters, public educa tton campaigns and more rapid and efficient suppression of unplanned ftres are recommended.
Britain offered radio equipment and a resident expert In Jakarta. Canada sent forest fire experts to Identify the type of help needed to put out the Borneo biases. They agreed to send equipment. New Zealand. Japan and the United States also offered help
Indonesia wants more wait r bomber planes from donors. At present one official said tt only has tarn, although ion *t» make up 70 per -nl of the country's land mas*.
When the rains finally came in November, the smoke cleared. The Bornean fires continued, but biases in Sumatra and Java were reported out or under control. Singaporean eyes no longer smarted and car headhghts did not cut through unnaturally slow afternoon traffic. Mahathir Mohammed remained silent.
Sustina Wartaputra. the Indonesian Director-General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation, announced a plan. He said that the next dry season would see better co-or dination between the Forestry Ministry, other government Institutions, the private sector and nomadic farmers.
This year’s disaster, he said, was caused by the drought combined with land clearance by the various groups for plan tai tons, transmigration sites and slash-and-bum plot* Next year, he declared, would be different — GEMINI NEWS.