Govt, activists battle over haze concerns
JAKARTA: Divisions have started to appear between Indonesian government ministries over how to tackle peatland fires that have caused choking smoke to spread across much of Southeast Asia.
Indonesia and the wider Southeast Asian region have been suffering for weeks from so-called “haze” caused by smouldering forest and peatland fires, largely in Sumatra and Borneo islands, that climate officials described as a crime against humanity.
Green groups welcomed Indonesia’s Environment and Forestry Ministry’s decision late last month to review laws that allow smallholder farmers to burn. It has also asked plantation firms to halt peatland conversion, restore burnt areas, while banning planting crops on burnt peatland.
Contradicting this, however, Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman said on Monday 100,000 hectares of burnt peatland in Kalimantan may now be used to plant corn and soybeans, according to Kontan newspaper.
“We will ask for peatland that has already been burned to be converted into agricultural land,” Mr Sulaiman said, adding the development should be led by local people and state-owned enterprises. Sumardjo Gatot Irianto, director-general of agricultural infrastructure in the agriculture ministry, said yesterday he was not aware of any plan to plant on burnt peatlands in Kalimantan.
But Greenpeace Indonesia said it was concerned and urged President Joko Widodo to stick to his moratorium on developing peatlands and avert fires next year.
“We strongly support the [peatlands] commitment by the president,” said Teguh Surya, a Greenpeace forest campaigner. “The president has to call the minister of agriculture to stop the plan to plant corn.”
Last week, a smallholder palm oil group said forest fires would again flare up next year because the government was yet to issue any new regulations relating to forest clearing.
Indonesia is home to the world’s thirdlargest tropical forest and is the fifth-largest greenhouse gas emitter. Mr Widodo will attend the UN climate summit in Paris in December where he is expected to outline the country’s pledges for tackling climate change.