Reuters 15 Jun 09;
JAKARTA, June 15 (Reuters) - Indonesia may experience more severe forest fires this year because of an extended dry season, officials said on Monday, raising the prospect of choking smoke blowing across neighbouring states.
As well as being unhealthy, the smog can cause major economic disruption costing the tourism, transport and farming sectors billions of dollars.
Spurred on by the 1997-98 fires, Southeast Asian countries signed the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution in 2002, but Indonesia has yet to ratify the pact.
Areas such as Sumatra and Borneo regularly suffer from forest fires, but risks appear to have risen with the return of the El Nino weather pattern this year. [ID:nSP425375].
"The dry season (in Riau) will peak at the end of June to July which may increase hotspots and with wind coming from Australia to Asia, the haze could travel to Malaysia and Singapore," said Blucer Doloksaribu, head of the meteorology agency in Riau's provincial capital of Pekanbaru.
Riau, along with other parts of Sumatra, frequently suffers from forest fires.
Malaysia has already been suffering from haze this year and visibility was cut in the capital Kuala Lumpur last week while air quality in several parts of the country was deemed unhealthy.
Bustar Maitar, forest campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said the number of fires appeared to be decreasing, but warned an anticipated long dry season could increase the numbers this year.
He also said the risk of forest fires was also being increased by the land clearing practices linked to some plantation firms and pulp-paper firms.
"Burning forests is still the cheapest way for companies to clear land although the government has prohibited it," he said.
Indonesian data showed the number of hotspots in Sumatra based on satellite surveillance had fallen to 28 as of Sunday from 99 last week after rain.
But on Borneo island the number of hot spots rose to 69 from 17 last week.
"If the weather remains dry, they (hot spots in Borneo) will gradually increase just like in Sumatra and will cause haze," Endarwin, head of extreme weather at Indonesia's meteorology agency said.
The agency has so far not issued recommendations to stop flights because visibility was still above minimum level of 1,000 metres (3,280 ft), he said.
Maitar of Greenpeace criticised a government move earlier in the year to end a moratorium on allowing palm oil plantations and pulp companies to operate in peatlands.
Environmentalists are particularly concerned over an increasing trend towards converting peatland forests.
Once these areas are drained, peat soil is highly flammable, producing more smoke and carbon emissions than other soil types. (Reporting by Fitri Wulandari and Telly Nathalia; Editing by Ed Davies and Jeremy Laurence)
