22/08/2005 - WWF today
calls on the Indonesian Government to prosecute
companies that are involved in setting forest
and land fires. Some of these companies have
repeatedly been involved in similar fire incidents.
All the 609 hotspots WWF recorded in Riau
Province between 18 July to 16 August 2005
were in the concessions of companies charged
by the Province’s Government for setting fires
to clear land in 2003. The companies were
Asia Pulp & Paper (APP)'s sister company,
PT Arara Abadi (459 hotspots), ASTRA Group’s
PT. Ekadura Indonesia (74 hotspots), WILMAR
group’s PT Jatim Jaya Perkasa (55 hotspots),
and SAMBU group‘s PT Guntung Hasrat Makmur
and PT Agroraya Gemartrans (21 hotspots).
Similarly, the Modis Satellite data recorded
for the same period for Riau found that of
the total of 5,420 hotspots, about half –-
2,692 hotspots –- were in company concessions.
The distribution of the hotspots was as follows:
1,114 in industrial timber plantations (HTI),
656 in forest timber concessions (HPH), 922
in oil palm plantations, and 2,728 in community
plantations. Over a 30-day period, the number
of hotspots was equal to 7.5 hotspots per
hour. Rokan Hilir District scored the highest
number.
”Repeated incidents of forest and land fires,
both in companies’ concessions and communities’
plantations, indicate public and corporate
ignorance in respecting the zero burning policy
set by the Government of Indonesia in 2001,”
said Fitrian Ardiansyah, WWF-Indonesia’s Coordinator
of Forest Restoration and Threat Mitigation.
Effective forest law enforcement and adequate
government resources to do so are urgently
needed in areas with frequent forest and land
fires, such as Riau, and the local communities
should be empowered by the government and
the private sector to manage their land responsibly.
As in the forest and land fires occuring
in January and February this year, 55 per
cent of the hotspots this time were identified
in land with peat soil. Peat soil burns easily,
producing more haze, smoke and carbon emission
compared to other soil types. Of Riau's total
land area of 9,859,700 hectares, almost half
(4,403,601 ha) are peatlands. As well as functioning
as water reservoir and globally important
carbon storage, most peatlands in Riau serve
as the main habitat of the endangered Sumatran
tiger.
”Over and over again, we have witnessed how
difficult it is to extinguish the fire in
peat soil. We therefore call on the Government
of Indonesia to stop issuing concession licenses
on peat land areas, and to protect them,”
said Mubariq Ahmad, WWF-Indonesia’s Executive
Director.
The Government of Indonesia should also immediately
ratify the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary
Haze Pollution and take a leading role in
the implementation of the agreement. Signed
in 2002 by the six ASEAN countries (Brunei
Darussalam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore Thailand
and Vietnam), it is the first regional agreement
in the world that requires a group of countries
to work together on transboundary haze pollution
resulting from land and forest fires.
Notes to Editor:
1. The ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze
Pollution contains provisions on monitoring
assessment and prevention, technology cooperation
and scientific research, mechanism for coordination,
lines of communication and simplified customs
and immigration procedures for disaster response.
2. Between 14-21 February 2005, Eyes on the
Forest (EoF), a coalition of Sumatran NGOs
monitoring the status of Riau's remaining
natural forests, reported about 2,800 fire
hotspots in Riau. More than 40 per cent of
these fires were inside Asia Pulp and Paper
(APP) and their partners’ concessions. A report
on this can be downloaded from:
http://www.eyesontheforest.or.id/eofnew/eof_news_march232005.pdf
3. Data on hotspots between 18 July to 16
August, 2005 can be downloaded from:
http:/www.eyesontheforest.or.id/eofnew/eof_hotspots_Aug222005.pdf
