Nature Alert: Firefighters still battling fires in Sarawak

Friday 14 August 2009

Firefighters still battling fires in Sarawak

Published: Friday August 14, 2009 MYT

By SHARON LING

KUCHING: Firefighters are still battling to put out fires covering a total of 3, 865ha in Sarawak which have led to hazy conditions in the state.

Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Kong Cho Ha said some 697 firefighters were working around the clock to put out the fires in Kuching, Sibu, Miri and Bintulu divisions.

“They have already managed to put out fires covering 2,740ha while the remaining 3,865ha are still burning,” he said in a statement Friday.

Miri division had the largest area of fires still to be put out at 2,057ha, followed by Sibu with 1,858ha.

Kuching and Bintulu had 10ha and 2ha of fires, respectively, yet to be doused.

According to Kong, the fires were believed to have been started by farmers and oil palm plantations.

“The fire then spreads and becomes difficult to control before the Fire and Rescue Services are informed.

“The problem is compounded by the fact that most of the fires are on peat soil and are in scattered locations away from road access,” he said.

He added that the state Fire and Rescue Services Department had directed its fire stations to switch to a 24-hour shift to speed up the firefighting process.

The department had also frozen the leave of its personnel during this time, he said.

In addition, the firefighting efforts in Miri were being assisted by personnel from the police, army, General Operations Force, Petronas, Civil Defence Department, Miri Resident’s Office, Land and Survey Office, Health Office, Natural Resources and Environment Board and Shin Yang.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/14/nation/20090814125730&sec=nation

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.