TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2001

Farmers look like culprits as ‘no hot spots in plantations'

JAKARTA (AFP) - The haze could be the result of "illegal forest and land clearing" by farmers living in isolated areas in the province, as "August to September are planting seasons" for them.

"The burning usually takes place around late afternoon until nighttime," said the head of the city's meteorology station in the West Kalimantan provincial capital of Pontianak.

Smoke haze caused early morning visibility problems at the town's Supadio airport, he said. "The visibility at the airport was under 2 kms (1.24 miles) around seven o'clock in the morning but no flights were cancelled because of it." Suwardi told AFP.

The head of Central Kalimantan's forestry office, Tuah Pahoe, was quoted by the state Antara news agency as saying Saturday that satellite statistics had detected at least 42 hot spots -- areas showing high levels of heat caused by burning -- in four districts in the province.

"Not one of them was found in plantation areas ... they were detected on civilian-owned lands that are burned every dry season for an upcoming planting season," Pahoe said.

The smoke from Kalimantan forced the Malaysian government to cancel 22 small aircraft flights in Sarawak between last Wednesday and Friday.

Environmental watchdogs and officials blame the fires on cultivators burning the land to make way for crops.

They say large-scale operators, such as palmoil and logging concerns, and small scale farmers are to blame.

The end of the rainy season in some parts of Indonesia has since June led to the return of the fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra island. The associated haze has affected Sumatra and parts of Malaysia and Thailand.

 

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