Peat fire prevention at the National Laboratory in Central Kalimantan

Grant Agreement Nr. WGP2 - 01 / GPI-59

Agreement holder: CIMTROP

Country/region: Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Activity period: 01/08/2002 - 30/09/2002

Documentation and products available:


Background:
A request for emergency assistance, dated Monday 29th July 2002, was received by the GPI Steering Committee. It followed reports of extensive peatland fires in Indonesia, and in this case in Central Kalimantan, threatening the largest remaining peatswamp forest area in the province, holding the largest remaining Orang utang population of the world (5000 animals), located adjacent to the former Mega Rice Project area.

The fires also threatened villages and houses as well as crops and the natural resources upon which many of the local communities depend to a great extent, and caused many smog related illnesses amongst the local people. A fire fighting team, 'Tim Serbu Api' (TSA) had been established since 25 July 2002, which successfully installed deep wells to wet a fire break transect of 800-900 metres length to try to stop the fire from spreading to a nearby village. Fire also threatened the Natural laboratory for Management of Peat Swamp Forest where biodiversity and natural resource functions of the threatened peatswamp forest ecosystem had been studied for the last 10 years. The National, Provincial and Local Governments seemed powerless. The communities desperately needed help to extinguish these fires, and tried to prevent the inferno increasing to the catastrophic level it reached in 1997 when nearly 2 giga tonnes of carbon were released into the world's atmosphere, causing much destruction and affecting global climate.
They requested funding for basic equipment, such as pumping machines and materials, and funding to compensate the fire fighters' time and operational costs. The GPI Steering Committee provided an emergency grant.


Results:

Expected
Outputs and Results achieved

Objectives and results:

  • To protect the virgin forest area from the extending wild forest fires.

  • To increase public awareness and responsibility of community through direct involvement in training for suppressing the fire in the hotspot.

Direct actions are:

  • Establish a Fire Attack Team (Tim Serbu Api): "TSA"

  • The TSA team established 9 transects or ditches with a total length of 8.75 km, 23 deep wells, and cut down 394 dead trees.

Achieved:

  • The total area where fires were extinguished or actively prevented covered 50 - 60 ha. The areas were choosen strategically, thus preventing the fire to spread to the surrounding virgin forests and a local high school:

    • over 25,000 ha primary peat swamp forest within Block C of the ex-MRP area,

    • 50,000 ha of the Natural Laboratory of Peat Swamp Forest (NLPSF) within the Sebangau area

    • the building of Senior High School (SMU 5 Plus), Palangka Raya.

Suggestions from the TSA:

  • It is imperative that the concept of establishing local community-based TSAs within the fire prone areas is adopted by the local government of Central Kalimantan.

  • The local government of Central Kalimantan should allocate a proportional budget for handling forest fires, including a budget for fire prevention, and public awareness programes.

  • The local government of Central Kalimantan should put into effect all legislation in regard of the instigators of forest fires.

  • The local government of Central Kalimantan should assign a central responsible institution to coordinate the fire prevention, suppression and rehabilitation, so that this can be done more effectively.
Evaluation

The project was successful in preventing fires to move into the virgin forests surrounding the affected areas. These forests belong to the most important peatswamp forests left in Kalimantan in terms of biodiversity. (They hold, e.g. the world's largest remaining Orang Utan population). The project also prevented a high school from catching fire. The project set an example as to how forest fires can be effectively addressed, and has as such developed a basis for further action by local communities and government. This will now be used as a basis for follow-up by the GPI 64 project on Bio-rights, which will establish a pilot project in the area. This will lead to further consultation between stakeholders and a long-term plan for biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction in the area.
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last update: 20/07/04