1. 260 Hot Spots Detected in Sumatra,
Reducing Visibility in Some Areas
The Jakarta Globe | September 04, 2012
A number of motorcists slow down when crossing Sudirman Street at Sampit in
East Kotawaringin, Central Kalimantan, because of limited visibility due to the
smoke-covered forest and land on Monday. (AFP Photo/Lucky Striawan)
The Padang chapter of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics
Agency has detected 260 hot spots in Sumatra, mostly in the lower half
of the island, in Jambi, South Sumatra and Lampung, a report said on
Monday. The Central Kalimantan forestry office also confirmed several
forest fires in a number of districts in the province, creating thick smoke
that was blown to nearby cities, as the dry season continues in
Indonesia. The condition has prompted concerns that the smoke could
blow toward neighboring countries, especially Singapore and Malaysia,
which would cause rebukes across the region. “The hot spots have
caused several areas in Sumatra to be blanketed by smoke, including
West Sumatra,” Antara news agency quoted Neli Elfira, a weather
analyst at the Padang office of the agency known as BMKG, as
saying. Neli said that most of the hot spots were in Jambi and Lampung.
But BMKG was not certain how they started, whether caused by fire in
dry forests or by land clearing from farmers or plantation companies
despite an official ban on using the slash-and-burn method. The analyst
said that dry winds from Australia will continue to head to the Asian
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2. mainland in the next few days. There would be no let-off and only rain
could reduce the number of hot spots, she said. “In a climatic condition
that is hot and dry, forest fires can erupt easily and therefore people are
asked to be more alert,” Neli said. She said that the smoke is reducing
visibility in many areas to just 7 to 10 kilometers, even though the figure
was still safe for aviation. Although banned, land clearing via burning
before the new planting season is still being practiced in the face of weak
law enforcement. “We hope the hot spots can decrease and the wind
does not blow too strong so that we don’t have to export smoke to our
neighboring countries,” said Neli. In Sampit, Central Kalimantan, the
Forestry Ministry office said that it detected 87 hot spots in the district
alone. “Satellite observation by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration has detected 87 hot spots in August and September,” said
Andreas Dody, head of data management at the office. He expressed
fear that the number of hot spots on the island will continue to increase in
September as people clear lands using fire during the dry season. Forest
fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan over the past week have brought to
Singapore’s northern areas a “moderate” Pollutant Standards Index
reading of 53 as of 4 p.m. on Monday. On the PSI, an air-quality
measurement, a reading of zero to 50 is “good.” Anything above 100 is
considered “unhealthy.” Last week, the poor air quality was noted only in
the northern part of Singapore however. Other areas of the island
recorded readings of 33 to 41. Earlier this month, haze from hot spots in
Sumatra had also affected Malaysia. The air quality was rated as
unhealthy in Perak and Selangor.
Source; http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/nvironment/260-hot-spots-detected-in-sumatra-reducing-visibility-in-some-
areas/542143
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3. Forest Fires Continue to Ravage East
and Central Java
SP/Nanda Aries | October 01, 2012
Forest fires that have razed the Arjuno Mountain in East Java during the past
month have burned hundreds of hectares of forest land in the Pasuruan and
Malang districts. The blazes have now spread to Batu city and the Mojokerto
district. New hotspots were detected in Block Nggabes, forest areas in
Tulungrejo and Giripuro, and villages in the Bumiaji subdistrict in Kota
Batu. Gatot Sundoro, the head of the R. Soerjo Forest Park Malang-
Pasuruan division, told reporters that the fires have burned an estimated 800
hectares of forest in Pasuruan, Malang, Kota Batu and Mojokerto. Some of
the fires in Lawang and Pasuruan have started to diminish but some have
also spread, moving westward and southward. Gatot said that he and his
men were having difficulties containing the fires that were spreading to the
touristic city of Batu due to visibility problems from the thick smoke. He added
that he could only pray that the fire in Nggabes doesn’t spread
farther. Meanwhile, fires also burned 2.5 hectares of teak forest in Pemangku
Hutan Resort (RPH) in Malang from Thursday night until Friday. The forest is
located next to Jalan Raya Karangkates, the border of the districts of Malang
and Blitar. The forest fire is believed to have stemmed from a fire that was
intentionally lit by an irresponsible person in the area. “It seems like
somebody had intentionally [set] fire to the bushes near the road,” said Agus
Salim, head of the RPH Sukowilangun, on Friday night. Although there were
no casualties or material losses caused by the fire, the condition of the teak
trees worsened. “The land that got burned had actually been given fertilizer.
[The fire] is causing the land’s contour and fertility [to] become [limited].” he
said. RPH officers were forced to contain the fire manually using tree
branches. “It’s difficult to extinguish it with water. The way to do it is by hitting
it with branches,” Agus said. He was relieved that he and his men were able
to extinguish the fire by midday on Friday. Meanwhile, in Karanganyar,
Central Java, more than 500 hectares of forests and tree nurseries burned on
the slopes of Mount Lawu. Aji Pratama, head of the Karanganyar Disaster
Mitigation Agency, said the extremely dry conditions and strong winds helped
to spread the fires and made it difficult for firefighters to douse them. “It’s not
just the brush and shrubs that are getting burned, but also trees, especially
pines,” he said.
(Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/forest-fires-continue-to-ravage-east-and-central-java/547433)
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4. Five ASEAN Nations Agree To Monitor
Fires, Smoke
Jakarta Globe | November 01, 2012
Ministers and vice ministers from five of the 10 member states of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Wednesday agreed to form a
technical task force to develop a ground and forest fire monitoring platform at
the ministerial steering committee level. The agreement was reached during
the 14th Meeting of the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee (MSC)
on Transboundary Haze Pollution held in Bali on Wednesday, an Asean
statement said. “The Ministers agreed to the proposal for the formation of an
MSC Technical Task Force to develop a fire monitoring platform,” the
statement said. The meeting was attended by environment ministers from
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, and the vice-minister of natural
resources and environment from Thailand. The meeting noted that the onset of
the traditional rainy season around late November or early December will in all
likelihood put an end to, or greatly reduce, hot spot activity. Hot spots are
areas of high temperatures shown through satellite imaging, that have
increased potential to ignite into ground and forest fires. “The MSC countries
agreed to maintain vigilance and to continue the subregion’s strong
commitment and steady progress toward tackling land and forest fires, and
minimizing the spread of transboundary smoke haze,” the statement said. The
ministers also agreed to explore the sharing of digital concession maps, as
they acknowledged that greater transparency is required to make plantation
companies and land owners responsible for the haze. The owners need to be
held accountable and work to employ the best management practices in land
clearing activities, the statement said. They also agreed to undertake more
stringent measures to prevent such problems, while instituting enforcement
measures against offenders. Extensive ground and forest fires — especially on
Sumatra and Borneo — during the dry season have resulted in serious air
pollution in the region. Several times in the past, the smoky pollution has
blanketed the sky over a large swath of area in Southeast Asia, causing traffic
and health hazards. Governments have blamed the continuing practice of land
clearing by burning for most of the haze, although burning peat veins in the soil
is also seen as a contributing factor to the smoke. Indonesia has outlawed land
clearing by fire, but enforcement has been weak in the face of inadequate
manpower and finances. The meeting concluded that Thailand will chair the
MSC in 2013.
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5. Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/lawandorder/five-asean-nations-
agree-to-monitor-fires-smoke/553540
Sumatra Fires Create Breathing
Problems
SP/Usmin & Radesman Saragih | October 01, 2012
Forests and brush are vulnerable to fires this year because of the lack of rain.
(EPA Photo/Paul Hilton)
Almost 2,000 people in Bengkulu and Jambi are suffering from breathing
problems after both provinces experienced a series of forest fires for
more than a month, officials said over the weekend. Bengkulu city health
agency chief Mixon Syahbudin said the number of people suffering from
respiratory ailments, known as ISPA, continues to rise because of a fire-
induced smoky haze that has settled into the western part of Sumatra. “If
rain does not fall in Bengkulu in October, the number of people with ISPA
in the area will rise,” Mixon said. “This is happening because the air
quality in Bengkulu is getting worse and the haze is getting
thicker.” Mixon said his office has treated more than 400 people with
respiratory problems. Sixty percent of those affected are children while
the remainder are elderly people. “We hope the rain will come soon so
that the haze covering this area will diminish and the air quality will return
to normal,” he said. Meanwhile, in Jambi, the local health agency has
recorded more than 1,400 people with ISPA in the capital alone since the
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6. start of September. At the provincial level, the figure has exceeded 3,000
people. “The air pollution caused by the haze during the drought has
caused many to suffer ISPA,” said Jambi city health agency chief
Polisman Sitanggang. The people affected by ISPA are mostly children
and the elderly.” Polisman added that his office distributing 10,000
masks over the last few days as the forest fires continue to spread and
haze thickens. The Ministry of Forestry recently said that it counted
24,663 hot spots — areas of high temperature indicating forest or brush
fires — this year, with Sumatra and Kalimantan having the most,
because of drought and land clearing by fire. The forest fires have also
forced several airlines to cut down the number of flights to Jambi
because of poor visibility. “The flight schedule from Jambi to Jakarta, and
Jakarta to Jambi has been reduced,” said Rudi Iriandi, marketing
manager at the Jambi office of flag carrier Garuda Indonesia. “We have
canceled all of our morning flights because Sultan Thaha Syaifuddin
airport in Jambi cannot operate because of the haze. “We have been
canceling flights dozens of times over the last three weeks. The
cancellations have cost the company a lot of money.” Visibility early in
the morning at the airport has been limited to 500 meters, preventing
planes from landing. Planes have only been able to land and take off
after 8:30 a.m., when the haze partially clears. Separately, Samsul
Bandri, chief of the Fatmawati Airport in Bengkulu, said the haze in the
province had not forced any flight cancelations. He added that visibility in
that area is still acceptable to most pilots. But Samsul warned that the
haze is thickening and could force flights to be canceled if the fires
continue.
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/health/sumatra-fires-create-breathing-
problems/547431
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7. Haze Forces Garuda Flight
Suspensions, Disruptions in Several
Airports
September 29, 2012
A plane glides through a haze of smoke on the runway of Polonia International
Airport in Medan, North Sumatra, in this August 2012 photo. Similarly thick
haze has wreaked havoc on flight to and from Jambi in Sumatra. (Antara
Photo/Septianda Perdana)
Jambi. Garuda Indonesia has suspended morning flights to and from
Jambi as a blanket of smoke continued to shroud the Sumatran
city. Garuda has suspended its morning flights GA 130 from Jambi to
Jakarta, and GA 131 from Jakarta to Jambi, according to Alzog, the
operations manager of Sultan Thaha Syaifuddin airport in Jambi, who
spoke to the media on Saturday. Rudi Iriandi, sales and marketing officer
at Garuda Indonesia's branch office in Jambi, said the morning flight
suspension is to continue until October 7. "Only two flights are
postponed. Meanwhile, the flight schedules for GA 132, GA 133, GA
134, and GA 135 remain unchanged," he said. A blanket of smoke has
also disrupted flights in other areas in the country. In Banjarmasin,
capital of South Kalimantan province, six flights had to be postponed
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8. from the city's Syamsudin Noor airport on Saturday due to the smog, an
official of state airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I said. "You can't see
more than five meters away, so it is not possible for an aircraft to take
off," Haruman said. The smog was believed to be coming from forest or
bush fires in undeveloped lands following the long drought. Further, Lion
Air had to delay three flights, including those to Jakarta, Surabaya and
Yogyakarta, and Garuda Indonesia, Sriwijaya Air and Batavia Air each
had to postpone take offs to Jakarta. "They have to wait for the haze to
dissipate and the line of vision to clear to at least 400 meters before
planning take offs," Haruman said. "The clouds this morning are the
worst ever crippling the airport operations," he said, adding we have had
hazes before but never caused a delay in take off." Antara
Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/haze-forces-garuda-flight-
suspensions-disruptions-in-several-airports/547233
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9. Sumatra Hot Spot Count Highest in
Years
September 27, 2012
Bangkok. The number of hot spots recorded in Sumatra so far this year
is at its highest level in many years, Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore's
Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, said at a regional
meeting. Balakrishnan's observation was shared by a number of other
Asean ministers at the Asean ministerial meeting on the environment
and related matters in Bangkok on Wednesday. Figures show the hot
spot count for this year has exceeded that for 2006, the last year in
which Singapore experienced a prolonged haze. Delegates attending the
meeting urged Indonesia to ratify the Asean Agreement on
Transboundary Haze Pollution as soon as possible, a statement issued
by the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources in Singapore
said. In response, Indonesia reported that it was in the final stages of its
ratification process. The discussions took place among environment
ministers at the eighth meeting on the Asean haze agreement, one of the
related meetings of the 12th Asean Ministerial Meeting on the
Environment. The meeting also urged Asean member states to ensure
that companies adopt zero-burning techniques for land clearing. As a
follow-up, those present at the meeting discussed the identification of
errant companies and cross-referencing of the location of hot spots, the
statement said. The haze season usually occurs each year from June to
September, which is the dry season in Indonesia and also a time when
farmers there clear land using the slash-and-burn method. The worst
episode of haze to hit the region occurred in 1997. Asean's efforts to
tackle the annual haze problem saw nine of its members ink the 2002
Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Only Indonesia has
yet to ratify the accord. Meanwhile, in Jambi, Sumatra, health officials
warned of a sharp spike in the number of people with respiratory
problems. According to Andi Pada from the Jambi provincial health
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10. office, the number of people suffering from respiratory tract ailments in
the Sumatran province has risen to 3,020, with 1,241 of them in the
capital, The Jakarta Globe reported. He added that the standard air
pollution index in the city had already reached unhealthy levels of more
than 100 particles per million. Local health officials have distributed some
3,000 masks to the population, especially for motorists, reports
said. Another official said attempts were being made to artificially induce
rain in the area. But this was proving difficult with few clouds and the dry
nature of the air, he added. Reprinted courtesy of The Straits Times
Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/health/sumatra-hot-spot-count-
highest-in-years/546817
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