Nature Alert: North Sumatra forests under threat of fire

Wednesday, 8 April 2009

North Sumatra forests under threat of fire

The Jakarta Post | Tue, 04/07/2009 9:31 PM | National

The Climatology, Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) is anticipating widespread forest fires in the northern provinces of Sumatra later this month.

The agency said North Sumatra, South Sumatra, Riau and Jambi provinces are areas with high vulnerability to forest fires. Extreme temperatures, low humidity, fast winds and low rainfall within the regions will provide the perfect weather conditions for forest fires, it added.

“Actually, the dry season will contribute to the overall impact of these Sumatran forests,” BMKG official Joko Wigianto said Monday.

The risk of forest fires in north Sumatra is even greater, with the region being home to several areas of peat land.

“Peat forest is far more flammable than other kinds of forest,” said Joko.

The BMKG has sent warnings of potential forest fires to the Forestry Ministry, the Agriculture Ministry and local administrations he said.

However, he said the warnings were not received warmly.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/04/07/north-sumatra-forests-under-threat-fire.html

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.