Criticized by Walhi, Jokowi: Forest fires incidents reduced

Jokowi says forest, bush fires has been reduced significantly.

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- President Joko Widodo said the damage caused by forest and bush fires has been reduced by more than 85 percent from previous years. His statement came to respond reporters' question about forest and bush fires in an number of regions of the country.

Jokowi said there was much less damage caused by forest fires. "I don't want to comment on single case of fire, but the damage caused by forest fires has been at least 85 percent less than in previous years," he said.

He said law enforcement, field control, and the presidential regulation on forest and plantation forest have been quite strict in preventing forest fires. "The forming of Peat Restoration Agency has also worked effectively and seriously to prevent more forest and plantation fires," he said.

Also read: Almost 500 companies get sanctions for harming environment

On Wednesday non-governmental organization on environmental advocacy Walhi has urged the government to tighten control over peat land restoration process to prevent forest fires. Campaign chief of Walhi Khalisah Khalid said the Environment and Forestry Ministry gave no information about the progress in the restoration process.

The biggest challenge in the effort to cope with forest and peat land fires is the powerful corporate actors, which have so far been behind the forest fire problem, Khalisah said here.

The law enforcement commitment issued by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) in 2015 and early 2016, had been weakened in the name of something irreversible giving corporations excuse to continue non compliance with the law, he said.

Law enforcement is more in the form of administrative sanction that gave no deterrent effect on non compliance with the law by big corporations, he said.

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