Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 15 Jul 11;
Hotspots detected in the country’s land and forest area have grown in number over the last two weeks as people and forest companies began land clearing, amid the absence of law enforcement, activists warn.
WWF Indonesia recorded hotspots hit the highest number ever to occur with more than 1,519 in only two weeks, mostly in the provinces of Riau, North Sumatra, West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan.
“It is likely that smoke from land and forest fires in Indonesia will hit Malaysia and Singapore. It is only a matter of time unless the government takes serious action now,” Hariri Dedi, head of forest fire management at WWF, told The Jakarta Post.
WWF detected some 1,960 in the whole month of June, from 1,113 hotspots the previous month.
Hariri said that land clearing practices both by local people and forest companies, common during dry season, rose because the government failed to enforce the law on violators.
President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono has ordered ministers to manage the expected land and forest fires, putting it first on the agenda under the Coordinating People’s Welfare Minister Agung Laksono, over the next three months.
“Yudhoyono asks [ministers] to ensure the safety of fire-prone provinces to avert them from sending smoke to Singapore and Malaysia, which could disturb those countries” Agung told a press conference after a Cabinet meeting last week.
Indonesia is the only country yet to ratify the ASEAN haze deal, which binds statutory countries to take steps to stop haze pollution from land and forest fires within their territories through strict regulations, heat-seeking satellites and firefighting training.
As the 2011 chair of ASEAN,
Indonesia has an ambitious plan to implement a haze agreement this year, but the government is facing difficulties getting approval from the House of Representatives.
Indonesia is the largest forest nation in ASEAN with some 120 million hectares of rainforest. Land and forest fires are normally massive in dry season with its haze reaching neighboring nations such as Singapore and Malaysia, making it the only member in the region that has not ratified the haze treaty since it was sanctioned in 2003.
Deputy Minister for Environmental Protection and Climate Change Arief Yuwono doubted WWF’s predictions Indonesia would send smoke to neighboring countries, saying the condition remained under control.
“Four ministers will visit West Kalimantan on Friday to coordinate with the local administration in preventing the land and forest fires,” he told the Post on Thursday.
The four ministers — Minister Agung, Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta, Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan and Agriculture Minister Siswono — would also visit the pilot project on preventing land and forest fires at Kubu Raya in West Kalimantan.
Data from the Environment Ministry showed the province of Riau, West Kalimantan and South Kalimantan suffered from the highest number of hotspots with 1,289, 628 and 413, respectively, since January to July 4.
The ministry did not reveal the latest data from July 4.
Smoke from land and forest fires blanketed Singapore and Malaysia last year forcing the two countries to submit protests to the Indonesian government.
Suriyanto, head of the Riau Plantation, Agriculture and Forestry Agency, said the office had detected some 69 cases of land and forest fires in the last six months. “We can’t settle some 58 cases of land and forest fires due to topography problems and lack of water resources in the area,” he said as quoted by Antara on Wednesday.
Suroyanto said most of the burned area was located in industrial forest plantation (HTI) and production forest concession (HPH), belonging to giant forest companies operating in Riau province.
Rains bring some relief from haze
Florence A. Samy The Star 14 Jul 11;
PETALING JAYA: The rain brought much-needed respite from the thick haze that has blanketed the skies over the last few days.
Although the haze was still present, many areas recorded improved air quality, thanks to rains and thunderstorms experienced in many states Thursday.
As of 5pm, only 28 areas (54%) recorded moderate Air Pollutant Index (API) readings while the remaining 23 had healthy readings. This was an improvement from Wednesday which saw 31 areas with moderate air quality readings and Ipoh with an unhealthy API of 139.
(A good API reading is from 0-50, moderate (51-100), unhealthy (101-200), very unhealthy (201-299) and hazardous (from 300 and above).
According to the Department of Environment, readings for their Jalan Tasek station in Ipoh dropped to an API of 60 by 5pm compared with 139 the day before.
The Meteorological Department has forecast more rain or thunderstorm in most states for Friday.
However, the haze is far from over as forest fires are still raging in Central Sumatra, More hazy days are expected as this is generally a dry season despite the occasional rain. The southwest monsoon ends in September.
According to the latest regional hazemap, scattered hotspots with smoke plumes continued to be detected over central Sumatra.
Haze getting worse despite showers
The Star 15 Jul 11;
GEORGE TOWN: The haze in Penang has worsened despite rainfall on parts of the island.
The Air Pollutant Index (API) sensors recorded a rise from 52 on Wednesday to 61 yesterday morning at the Universiti Sains Malaysia station here.
The API reading in Prai also increased from 56 on Wednesday evening to 62 yesterday morning.
In Seberang Jaya, the API reading was recorded at 71 yesterday morning compared to 63 on Wednesday.
The visibility level in Bayan Lepas has decreased since yesterday morning from 8km at 8am to 7km by 2pm.
Butterworth faces a similar condition with visibility around 7km to 8km.
A spokesman from the state Meteorological Department said the south-west monsoon winds were bringing the effects of the haze here from the burning hot spots in Sumatra.
“Rain will help to wash down some pollutants but it can’t do much else since the source of the haze is still around. Moreover, the wind is blowing in our direction.
“The state will be facing the south-west monsoon pattern until September,” he said.
