Since 28 February this year, satellite surveillance of Sumatra and Kalimantan indicated a significant increase in fire activity or “hot spots” in these areas, particularly in the provinces of Riau, North Sumatra and West Kalimantan. This activity is attributed to a short, hot, and dry spell, which created ideal burning conditions for land clearing activities. In Riau, North Sumatra and West Kalimantan these fires were located primarily on plantation and forestry company land. However, in West Sumatra, the majority of fires were identified as unregulated burning for agricultural land preparation.

Thick haze occurred on 29 February and 1, 2 and 6 March 2000 in areas of Riau, West Kalimantan, and Central Kalimantan. In Pekanbaru, reduced visibility due to smoke haze caused several aircraft to be cancelled or delayed in the morning between 8 to 10 a.m.

The worst incident in Pekanbaru occurred early on Monday morning, 6 March, when the visibility was reduced to less than 800 meters, and the “Indeks Standard Pencemaran Udara” (ISPU) was recorded at 329. The air quality improved after 10 a.m. that day, the visibility increasing to 2000 meters, and the ISPU decreasing to 109. It was noted that ISPU reading also increased in West Kalimantan during the same period.

The haze concentration in Sumatra caused some concerns in neighboring countries despite the fact that the prevalent wind was toward the southeast and the east. Ministers of Environment of Singapore and Malaysia forwarded letters of inquiry with regard to the situation on 7 March 2000.

In response to the situation, the Government of Indonesia at central and local levels took the following immediate actions:

• In West Sumatra, mobilised Jagawana and approximately 150 local personnel to undertake fire suppression operations

• Mounted aerial surveillance patrols with helicopters in Sumatra and Kalimantan

• Transferred 100 million rupiah to for field operations in Riau

• Mobilised government staff; and

• Plantation estate, fire fighting resources (including approximately 300 state-firefighters) to undertake fire fighting operations around Pekanbaru

• Introduce an Interagency Supervision Team and Interagency Investigation Team in Riau

In addition to the above, on 23 March 2000 the Government formed the National Coordinating Team on Legal Affairs (Tim Yustisi) to deal with land and forest fire legal matters. On 24-25 March 2000, this team collected a quantity of data with regard to land preparation by fire and as a result of that ten (10) companies were identified as having had fires in their concession areas. Subsequent to this, investigations are continuing into four (4) companies with a view to possible legal proceedings being instituted.

Longer term strategies to control and or prevent future fire and haze incidents include:

• Introducing national fire prevention legislation (zero burning policy by law).

• Clarifying the roles and responsibilities of the various national agencies involved in fire and haze management (BAPEDAL - early warning, advocacy and detection, MoFEC - prevention and suppression, BAKORNAS PB/ Civil Defence - incident command during fire disaster).

• Upgrading the existing Air Quality Monitoring System by obtaining an additional 19 stations and mobile monitoring units

• Establishing a Fire Danger Rating System optimised to the Indonesian fire environment.