Indonesia suspends licences of 26 companies over forest fires — BBC News
Indonesian authorities last month suspended the operating licences of 26 companies linked to forest fires and launched investigations into others. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto called for tougher sanctions for land burning, describing the practice as “environmental terrorism,” BBC News reports.
Indonesia is experiencing its worst forest fire season in a decade. Toxic haze has blanketed millions of people on the islands of Kalimantan and Sumatra, where air pollution levels have remained hazardous for several weeks. Smoke has also spread to Singapore and Malaysia: in Singapore, it obscured views of the city skyline, while some schools in Malaysia were closed because of the haze.
Scale of the fires
According to the independent forest monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas, 1,043,377 fire hotspots were recorded in Indonesia, affecting a total of 900,000 hectares. The intensity of this year’s fires is linked to a particularly strong El Niño phenomenon, which changes weather patterns around the world.
Some fires in forests and peatlands are caused by land clearing through the burning of vegetation. This method has traditionally been used by farmers to prepare soil for new crops, but fires are now increasingly linked to commercial agricultural production. Land burning is banned in Indonesia, but authorities have struggled for years to enforce the ban.
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Company allegations and lawsuits
In a report this month, Greenpeace named companies from Singapore and Malaysia linked to areas in Indonesia where fires are continuing. According to the organization, more than 30 sources of haze were recorded in August and September on land managed by two Indonesian subsidiaries of Singaporean palm oil producer First Resources. First Resources told the BBC that it follows a zero-burning policy and implements fire prevention, monitoring and firefighting measures.
Greenpeace also mentioned the Malaysian plantation group Kuala Lumpur Kepong: 19 sources of haze were recorded on land belonging to its subsidiary PT Menteng Jaya Sawit Perdana. Kuala Lumpur Kepong said that most fires occurred outside its concession area and that all hotspots had already been extinguished.
In the city of Pontianak in West Kalimantan province, several civil society groups filed a class-action lawsuit against the government and President Prabowo Subianto. They accuse the authorities of gross negligence over recurring toxic haze and demand that it be declared a national disaster, which could open the way for medical costs to be covered.
