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Forest fires devastate Borneo and Sumatra
11/Sep/2006: Illegal burning of forests to clear land for farming has resulted in huge forest fires across Indonesian Borneo and Sumatra, destroying millions of hectares of forests and farm lands.
Officials from the forest ministry has estimated that eight million hectares of forest was decimated by the forest fire in this region in the month of August and a few fires are still burning out of control on the island of Borneo.
Forest fires are a persistent problem in Indonesia and the smoke from the fire pose health problems to the people living in Indonesia and in neighboring countries like Malaysia and Singapore. The Indonesian government has blamed small farmers for starting these fires to clear up forest lands for farming, but the environmentalists in the country say that the government’s inability to control illegal logging and to enforce a ban on ‘land-clearing’ fires is the main reason for devastating forest fires like the one raging in Borneo and Sumatra.
An activist from the Indonesian Forum for Environment said that most of the forest fires in the region are caused by big companies violating rules on clearing forest lands. 80% of the forest fires in the region are started by big companies clearing land for plantations and timber estates, according to a recent report by the Indonesian Forum for Environment.
Kesavan Siva
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