Forest fire in Indonesia was forecast to be much lighter this year due to the greater efforts to combat the fires, Minister of Forestry Malam Sambat Kaban said on Monday.
The efforts was mainly targeted to reduce burning during the land clearing, which is the major cause of the frequent forest fire in the country, said the minister.
The authorities have imposed counseling and education to land owners about an appropriate way to clear land for plantation, said Kaban.
The minister said that during the first seven months of this year, the fire across the nation was relatively less than that of last year.
In 2006, forest fire covered over 35,000 hectares of land across the country, sending smokes to neighboring countries and drawing criticism from ASEAN member countries, said Kaban.
The government planned to plan over 4 million trees by 2009 to recover the burned lands, he said.
Regarding to the haze covering the city of Pontianak in western Borneo over the weekend, which delayed flights Sunday morning because of reduced visibility, Kaban said that the fire still could be controlled.
Land owners preferred to burn their land during the land clearing because it is cheaper.
Scientist has said that the fires in Indonesia in the past had contributed to the large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
The annual forest fire producing haze has caused health problems and billions of dollars of losses from falling tourism revenue and flight delays in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and since 1997.
Indonesia posts the world third emitter of carbon dioxide, mostly due to forest fires, experts say.
Source: Xinhua
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