PONTIANAK, KOMPAS — In the past two weeks, 10 plots of concession land belonging to plantation and industrial forest companies in West Kalimantan have been sealed by officers from the Environment and Forestry Ministry’s Directorate General of Law Enforcement. Three of them were sealed on Tuesday (13/8/2019).
The latest three companies are based in Mempawah and Ketapang regencies. The total burned forest area in these three concession lands amounts to 200 hectares, while the total burned area in the other seven concession lands amounts to 554 ha.
Kalimantan Fast Response Forestry Police Brigade (SPORC) commander Hari Novianto said on Wednesday that a verification team had put up notice boards announcing the sealing at the burned concession forests.
“We have called the representatives of seven of the companies with sealed lands to ask for their clarification regarding fires in their areas,” Hari said.
Separately, head of Section III Pontianak of the Environment and Forestry Ministry’s Kalimantan Law Enforcement Office, Julian, said that the sealing was the result of monitoring of indicated hot spots within the companies’ concession areas.
“Among the seven companies are palm oil and industrial forest companies in Kubu Raya, Ketapang, Sanggau, Mempawah and Sintang regencies,” Julian said.
Pontianak has seen downpours in the past two days. Smog has receded but there were still 148 hot spots in West Kalimantan, including 56 in Ketapang (the highest number), as of Wednesday.
Rain also drenched Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan, helping to reduce thick smog. At least 11 community health centers (Puskesmas) in Palangkaraya prepared two-bed oxygen rooms.
In Jambi, fires began to spread to the Sultan Thaha Syaifuddin Grand Forest Park (tahura) in Batangharai regency. A joint team has found it difficult to reach the hot spot due to difficult terrain.
Batanghari Environment Agency’s forest firefighting coordinator Shandy said his team and Manggala Agni Fire Agency continued their efforts to reach locations despite thick bush and hilly topography. Water sources for fighting fires are also being sought.
On Wednesday, fires burned at least 100 ha of land in Muara Medak village, Musi Banyuasin regency, South Sumatra. Fire spread into commercial plantation lands.
With these latest fires, more than 600 ha of land in South Sumatra in over 105 spots have been burnt.
Forest and peatland fires remain threats as the dry season in several regions is expected to last until October this year. Up to early August, around 135,000 ha of land had been burned, including 30,000 ha in forests and peatlands.
Warning letter
In a press conference on Wednesday, Environment and Forestry Ministry law enforcement director general Rasio Ridho Sani said that the ministry had issued warning letters to 110 leaders of companies with indicated hot spots on their lands. Investigators, supervisors and the SPORC team have been requested to act against forest burners.
Previously, during a working visit to Riau, National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian asked local police offices to be brave in taking firm action to enforce the law against individuals and corporations that burn forests. The National Police is prepared to support all investigations, including taking on several of them if necessary (Kompas, 14/8/2019).
Currently, the government and law enforcement agencies are urged to evaluate all prevention efforts, including applying deterrent effects, campaigning for fire-free land clearing, audits of corporate compliance and resolving agrarian conflicts.
“We have suggested compliance audits to curb forest fires and to ensure companies’ preparedness for fire threats,” said Bambang Hero Saharjo, a forest fire expert from Bogor Agricultural Institute’s (IPB) forestry faculty.
Ideally, these efforts should be conducted before the dry season. If they are started during the dry season, it will be too late to soak the land.
Bambang also urged firm and even-handed law enforcement, including administrative, criminal and civil punishments.
Regarding the National Police chief’s call for the National Police to tackle unresolved cases, the Riau Forest Rescue Network (Jikalahari) said that this would not guarantee speedy investigation. “We think it will be the same. None of Jikalahari’s reports on forest fires appear to have been processed,” Jikalahari coordinator Made Ali said. In 2016, Jikalahari reported 49 companies to the National Police headquarters, including for forest and peatland fires.