Jakarta, Feb 20 (Antara) - The Indonesian government has the commitment to restore the country's land areas damaged by the land and forest fires in 2015, which burned over 2 million hectares and inflicted financial losses worth Rp220 trillion.
In a bid to accelerate the restoration of burned land, notably peatlands, the government has set up the Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG) to manage efforts for restoring damaged land areas.
Restoration of damaged land within a concession area must be carried out by companies holding the concession permits. The burned lands become the full responsibility of the concessionaires.
Hence, corporations which have so far tapped and enjoyed the benefit of the concession forests must carry out restoration of the damaged areas, and the government must take firm actions against those that are negligent.
"Weak and less serious law enforcement on violations in the environment sector will result in excessive damage," lawmaker and member of Commission VII on environmental affairs of the House of Representatives (DPR), Rofi Munawar, said in a statement in Jakarta on Friday (Feb 17).
Moreover, the damages caused to land and forest areas due to fires in 2015 are vast. Forest and plantation fires had affected 2.089 million hectares of area and inflicted financial losses worth Rp220 trillion in 2015.
Therefore, he called on the government to take corrective and coercive measures against both individuals and corporations committing violations. Allowing companies to remain negligent against their obligations to restore their damaged land would serve as a bad precedent in the future.
This condition, if left unheeded, will cause further environmental degradation and negligence of corporations to maintain the environment sustainability. "The Ministry of Environment and Forestry should therefore have systematic plans and clear guidelines for law enforcement in this case. This will give a chance for corporations to meet the needed requirements. If they have no good will, they should receive administrative sections or face criminal charges," Munawar noted.
Based on data at the BRG, the acreage of peatlands that is expected to undergo restoration in the coming 5 years reaches 2.679 million hectares.
Of the acreage, 1.2 million hectares are plantation and forest concession areas. About 1.5 million hectares of the areas are located in the peat dome, which theoretically should be designed as protection (forest) areas.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) last month told that forest concessionaires, which were involved in the forest and land fires, should be firmly acted upon, including revocations of their permits.
"I think, in the 2015-2016 period, there have been companies that have had their permits revoked or frozen, or companies which received reprimands. So, just freeze or revoke their permits. If we are firm, they must be willing to help us control the fires all together," the president said in Jakarta on Monday (Jan 23).
At least three companies have had their permits revoked, 16 were frozen, and 116 others got reprimands. They were involved in the 2015 forest fires. Losses suffered in the 2015 forest and land fires, according to the president, were not small and reached Rp220 trillion.
The president said that some companies that own concession permits should maintain and preserve their own production fields by implementing friendly environment cultivation process.
He also asked the Peatland Restoration Agency to immediately restore the peatland areas that were burned in 2015. "I hope the central government, the Police, the Indonesian Military and the provincial administration would simultaneously work together to avoid land and forest fires in 2017," he stated.
The Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya also urged the companies not to burn their production fields. "I will check several government rules that are supporting the president's directives to avoid fires," she said.
In order to prevent forest and land fires, President Jokowi also called on private companies to contribute to building permanent canal blocks that are constructed in peatland areas, with an open-close system, so that the soil remains damp and humid, and it would continue to provide water even during the dry season.
"Last year, the number of canal blocks built reached 11,000 units. However, this number is still small, and the Public Works and the Peatland Restoration Agency of the Forestry Ministry will be in charge of this area. Do not forget that private companies, which are the land owners, should be responsible for the construction of canal blocks," he stated.
As there are currently only 516 artesian wells, private companies are also requested to build them. "The number of boreholes was still small in 2016, and we will build as many as possible in 2017. Once again, private companies owning the land are responsible for developing artesian wells. What we want is that every forest and land fire could be anticipated and be extinguished soon," Jokowi said.
The other aspect is the need to activate fire-control command posts at the village and sub-district levels. "We should involve the local people for implementing a joint patrol system. To this end, we need to increase the people's awareness and provide them information on the importance of anticipating forest fires," he added.(a014/INE)
EDITED BY INE (T.A014/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 20-02-2017 20:21:5 |
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