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Indonesia’s forest fires

Burning questions

 7.11.2015. ONE of the countries most seriously affected by this year’s mighty Niño is Indonesia. By the middle of last month more than 20,000 firefighters were battling blazes across its jungles and peatland. Only the onset of heavy rains has brought some respite from the toxic smoke which has shrouded South-East Asia since August. Perhaps $200m has been spent trying to douse the blazes, which at times have outnumbered firefighters five-to-one. Some scientists think that by drying out already-parched earth, trenches dug to supply water for hoses may even have made things worse.

Read full article: http://www.economist.com/news/international/21677629-el-ni-o-leaves-much-south-east-asia-choking-smog-burning-questions

Doctors alone cannot cure haze victims

As a physician I worked at a puskesmas (community health center) in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau, one of the provinces hit hardest by recent forest fires and pollution.

Patients of all ages came to the puskesmas, mostly with breathing problems or worsening chronic conditions like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. They normally asked me, “How can I stop the coughing?” or “When will my baby be able to breathe easily again?

Read full article: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/13/doctors-alone-cannot-cure-haze-victims.html

Community firefighters tackle forest fire from grassroots

The dawn still sheltered beneath the tropical forest-lined horizon in Kalimantan, as 24-year-old Maryadi Dayak Sanjaya yanked the throttle on a motorized canoe, angling its prow toward furtive trails of smoke that threatened to gather in the distance.

In the previous four months, Sanjaya had gone from being a fresh graduate from the University of Palangkaraya to coordinating the nascent fire prevention and suppression program within the Katingan Project, an effort to conserve one of the largest intact peat swamp forests remaining in Indonesia. - See more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/10/community-firefighters-tackle-forest-fire-grassroots.html#sthash.FuYZZiHq.dpuf

Read full article: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/10/community-firefighters-tackle-forest-fire-grassroots.html

Scientists warn of health problems from haze

Toxic fumes from the Indonesian forest fires that have spread a choking haze across Southeast Asia may be doing more harm to human and plant health than officials have indicated, scientists measuring the pollution say.

Farmers are expecting a poor harvest because plants have had too little sunlight for normal photosynthesis, while government figures of half a million sickened by the smoke are only the “tip of the iceberg”, said Louis Verchot, a scientist with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

Meanwhile, the fires are converting carbon stored in burning peatlands into greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change.

Read full article: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/11/scientists-warn-health-problems-haze.html

Government to ‘Empower’ Nomadic Tribes by Grounding Them on Reservations

Jakarta. The Indonesian government plans to move nomadic forest tribes into reservations as part of its solution for “empowering” communities threatened by massive loss of forests in southern Sumatra.

An estimated 200,000 people from various tribes that the government collectively brands “Anak Dalam” will be affected by the plan, laid out in a regulation signed by President Joko Widodo last year and which Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa is only acting on now.

The minister has allocated Rp 126 billion ($9.28 million) for the so-called Social Empowerment for Indigenous Communities program, much of it to settle the largely nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes onto reservations.

“The tribes’ nomadic tradition has been disrupted by forest fires,” Khofifah said at her office in Jakarta on Wednesday. “The forests in which they live have been converted into oil palm plantations, pushing them away. The forest fires have made their situation even worse. We have to do something [about it].”

Read full article:
http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/government-empower-nomadic-tribes-grounding-reservations/

Commentary: Why Indonesia Can’t Stamp Out Fires That Have Cast a Haze Over South-East Asia

The South-East Asian haze crisis has made Indonesia very unpopular with its neighbors. Yet its government can’t do much about it. Local elites, who call the shots in the forested regions, don’t want to tackle the crisis – and they’re able to stand up to national leaders in Jakarta.

The haze is caused by man-made forest fires, mostly on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, often started to clear land for palm oil plantations. It’s an annual event, though this year El Niño has meant drier conditions and thus particularly bad haze – the worst since 1997.

Read full article: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/opinion/commentary-indonesia-cant-stamp-fires-cast-haze-south-east-asia/