As forest fires raged like never before across Indonesia last year, Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced he was setting up a special agency to tackle the annual scourge that shrouds parts of Southeast Asia in choking haze.
However, with this season’s fires already blazing, the nation’s Peatlands Restoration Agency has barely got off the ground and has a huge task ahead of it.
Peatlands Restoration Agency chief Nazir Foead told reporters the agency needs at least US$1 billion in funding over five years, but that the government is unlikely to allocate a budget for another two months.
Foead, an environmental expert who was formerly the WWF’s conservation director in Indonesia, so far has just a handful of staff and concedes the agency would not have the clout to force plantation companies to toe the line in helping restore dried-out peatland.
The fires are often started by palm-oil plantations and paper firms or by smallholders who use slash-and-burn practices to clear land cheaply. Peaty soil, found in many parts of Indonesia, is particularly flammable when dry, often causing fires to spread beyond their intended areas.
“The authority to issue or freeze licenses lies with the environment ministry and local governments, not with this agency,” Foead said, referring to permits needed to operate the plantations that dominate large swaths of the nation.
Much of Southeast Asia was blanketed in acrid haze for several months last year and as pollution levels spiked thousands of people were afflicted by respiratory illnesses, while tourism, schools and flights were disrupted.
The agency’s goal is to prevent fires by “re-wetting” 2 million hectares of drained and damaged peatland, with at least 30 percent of that carried out this year. The process involves raising water levels using dams and irrigation channels.
Nearly half the fires during last year’s prolonged dry season were on peaty soil.
However, the agency’s budget has not been decided yet and it has been operating since it started in January using money from about US$80 million pledged by donors.
Indonesian Presidential Office chief of staff Teten Masduki said the agency would also have access to funds already allocated to the environment ministry as a stopgap until its budget was finalized.
“The agency is just in the institution building and staffing stage,” Masduki said, adding that the government remained optimistic the body would achieve its targets this year.
As the agency looks to find its feet, fires are already flaring in some areas. Riau Province on Sumatra Island last month declared a state of emergency, with more than 1,000 people deployed to manage the crisis.
Indonesian Minister of Security Luhut Pandjaitan said the government would declare emergencies in affected areas earlier this year to ensure firefighting resources were deployed quickly.
“Last year we didn’t declare emergency until September, when the fires were already widely spread, that was our mistake,” he said last month.
Widodo — who last year cut short a visit to the US because of the disaster — has threatened to sack officials if they fail to contain blazes.
Foead and his fledgling agency want plantation companies to restore peatlands within their concessions.
“There is no other choice for companies but to restore or they will risk huge penalties,” he said.
However, the agency would have no legal authority to enforce this, he added.
Non-governmental organization sources said the agency would likely face challenges in convincing companies and communities, used to slash-and-burn clearing, to take responsibility for damaged land.
Even getting relevant government institutions to cooperate in mapping and fixing the problem could be hard, one non-governmental organization worker said.
“[The agency] is having to fight to get basic data about land use and which companies are given permits,” said the worker, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.
However, Foead said that the whole of the Indonesian government is on board with the idea of the agency and that “everyone is cooperating.”
He said he remained hopeful the agency had a chance of succeeding in the long-run because the initiative was a top priority for Widodo’s administration.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number