Indonesia: Plantation Companies to Blame for 70% of Forest Fires, Yudhoyono Says

Jakarta Globe 8 Sep 15;

Jakarta. Former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has declared plantation and logging companies they main culprits in setting the forest fires generating clouds of choking haze, and called on the current administration to shut down their operations.

“Arrest the instigators and also the funders,” Yudhoyono said at a lecture at the National Resilience Institute in Jakarta on Tuesday.

He claimed that 70 percent of the forest fires burning across the archipelago were set by plantation companies to clear land for farming.

Yudhoyono, who served two terms in office from 2004 to 2014, said his administration had managed to scale back the annual fire scourge until 2013, when fires in Sumatra’s Riau province caused haze that sent air pollution indexes in Singapore and Malaysia to record hazardous levels.

Yudhoyono said that during his time in office, he had no hesitation about deploying soldiers to fight the fires, but environmental activists argue that his administration was not particularly zealous about cracking down on the companies setting the fires.

In June 2013, at the height of the worst forest fires in more than a decade, the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) submitted a petition condemning Yudhoyono for not doing enough to address the problem.

Indonesia investigates 10 firms over smog-causing forest fires
Reuters 8 Sep 15;

Indonesia is investigating 10 firms over worsening forest fires that have created a blanket of smog over Southeast Asia, threatening them with sanctions if they are found responsible, a government minister said on Tuesday.

The thick haze from Indonesia's Sumatra and Kalimantan islands has forced the repeated cancellation of flights in the area and pushed air quality to unhealthy levels in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.

Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said companies could face sanctions if found violating their permits.

"While the legal process is going on, in parallel, there has to be a decision or act taken on the company's permit," the minister told reporters.

Sanctions range from a written warning to a fine to revoking a firm's permit.

The minister named only one of the 10 firms under investigation, a small private company called Tempirai Palm Resources. It was not immediately possible to reach it for comment.

Indonesia has failed in previous attempts to stop the regional haze, with 2013 giving the worst pollution readings since 1997.

The heavy smoke from slash-and-burn clearances often comes from the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, where large forest concessions are used by pulp and paper and palm oil companies, some of which are listed in Singapore.

The companies blame smallholders for the fires, but they have been criticized by green groups for not doing enough to stop the haze or the rampant deforestation and destruction of carbon-rich peatlands in Indonesia.

(Reporting by Bernadette Christina; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Haze shrouds the region due to forest fires in Indonesia
Indonesian police have identified 14 hotspots in South Sumatra and authorities say a number of them belong to plantation companies.
Sujadi Siswo, Channel NewsAsia 8 Sep 15;

JAKARTA: A thick haze is once again shrouding many parts of the region. It is a result of fires started in Indonesia for the widespread clearing of forests for planting. The haze this year comes on the back of an especially dry season, made worse by the El Nino weather phenomenon.

Indonesian police have identified 14 hotspots in South Sumatra and authorities have said a number of them belong to plantation companies. Some of the burning areas are in the province's national parks.

Ms Siti Nurbaya Bakar, Indonesia’s Minister for Environment and Forestry, said: “We can identify using the coordinates. We can do that. But the National Reserve is also affected not only by individuals but also plantation companies. There are indications and we have discovered some.”

President Joko Widodo wants plantation companies to be made responsible for any fire occurring in their concessions. But there are difficulties in prosecuting the perpetrators despite knowing who they are, due to the country's complex judicial process.

Mr Willem Rampangilei, chief of Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency, said: “We know the forest fires are mainly caused by man. If you ask me how long it will take to stop them, I am not able to tell now.”

Only a handful of companies have been brought to justice and those who were, got away with light sentences.

Apart from companies and individuals, it is also the dry weather that has sparked the fires, according to an Indonesian Member of Parliament who spoke on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

Mr Hamdhani Mukhdar Said, a Member of Parliament for Kalimantan, explained: "The burning is not intentional, it is because of severe drought in Kalimantan and other areas in Indonesia. The smoke is from peat fires that are burning some 30 centimetres deep underground, that is why it is hard to douse."

A multi-agency task force that includes the police and military is trying to fight the fires, which have shrouded Sumatra and Kalimantan in a dense haze. The haze has hit the provinces of South Sumatra, Jambi and Riau especially hard, forcing schools to close and airports to shut down.

The smoke has also affected neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia, causing the air quality there to deteriorate to unhealthy levels on some days.

All eyes are on how Indonesia tackles the forest fires and the relating smog since it ratified the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution late last year. In December last year, Indonesia had also launched its One Map Policy, to provide better coordination for its various agencies in responding to forest fires and the resulting haze. The question remains whether all these will make a difference this time round.

- CNA/ms

10 firms probed over Indonesia forest fires
Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja, The Strait Times/Asia News Network Jakarta Post 10 Sep 15;

Ten plantation companies operating in Riau, South Sumatra, Jambi and Kalimantan provinces may see their licences revoked, and may be fined as investigators probe whether they engaged in intentional burning to clear land ahead of the planting season later this year.

Preliminary evidence shows that the companies, which have either oil palm or wood pulp concessions, contributed to the raging fires that spread uncontrollably in the past weeks, spawning thick haze that has sent air pollution indexes in Singapore and Malaysia to between moderate and unhealthy levels.

"Investigations are ongoing. We will immediately announce the names of the companies once we group them into three classes - mild, moderate and heavy breaches," Environment and Forestry Ministry spokesman Eka Soegiri told The Straits Times by phone.

The skyline in central Singapore obscured by haze yesterday afternoon. The haze is expected to persist today, according to the National Environment Agency.

Under Indonesian plantation law, a company found guilty of clearing land by burning can be fined up to 10 billion rupiah (S$1 million), and the management faces up to 10 years in jail.

Companies that fail to control fires started elsewhere but which spread into their concession land also face punishment. The law requires them to have adequate equipment and personnel to control fires within their land.

"In each of the 10 cases, investigators are studying what caused the fire, how it spread, the impact of the fire, how much effort the plantation company put in to control the fire, and the economic losses the fire caused," Dr Eka said.

One of the 10 companies has been identified as PT Tempirai Palm Resources in South Sumatra province, where 45ha of its concession land caught fire.

Mr Ali Hanafiah, Tempirai's manager in charge of emergency response, blamed local farmers who started a fire nearby that spread into his company's concession land owing to strong wind, Kompas daily reported yesterday.

Meanwhile, in Jambi, police have named 20 farmers in their investigation of eight cases of forest and land fires since January, reported The Jakarta Post.

Haze from forest and land fires deteriorated in Kalimantan and lingered in Sumatra yesterday as officials - in some places facing a lack of equipment - struggled to douse the raging fires.

The thick haze has disrupted flights in Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra and Kalimantan, and forced schools to close temporarily.

There were 616 hot spots detected yesterday in West Kalimantan alone, reported Kompas. But light rain provided some respite in Riau, increasing visibility in the capital as well as the northern parts of the province, according to Antara news agency.

Mr Syaikhul Islam Ali, an MP in the environment committee, blamed weak law enforcement for the recurring problem of forest fires. "Destroying forests, whether on a small or big scale, is a serious crime. The environment minister should not be reluctant. Whoever the culprits are, give them stern punishment." (k)(++++)