A Critical Analysis of Deforestation in Indonesia and Forest Fires

This report provides an in-depth analysis of deforestation in Indonesia, focusing on the critical role of forest fires. It examines the history of these fires, including the major events of 1982/1983, 1997/1998, and 2015, and their causes, such as slash-and-burn agriculture, logging practices, and the El Nino climate pattern. The report details the significant environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, and the endangerment of unique biodiversity in regions like Borneo and Sumatra. Furthermore, it explores the social and economic consequences, such as the haze affecting neighboring countries and the mismanagement of aid, highlighting the complex interplay of factors driving deforestation and its far-reaching effects on the Indonesian population and the wider ASEAN community. The report underscores the need for effective mitigation strategies to address the ongoing environmental crisis.

Abstract
Indonesia, is a south eastern island with over 17,000 islands. It is covered by tropical forests with
rare flora and fauna that have been endangered over the years due to the high rates of
deforestation accelerated by forest fires that have plagued the island country. The current
Indonesian president has enacted one moratorium to another to curb the forest fire menace while
introduce other policies and bans but forest fires have still engulfed the tropical forests
particularly the province of Borneo. Massive hectares of former forested land have gone up in
flames to clear for palm oil plantations and houses as the human population of Indonesia
increases annually at a rate of 1.1% as at 2017. This deep analysis seeks to critically focus on
deforestation in Indonesia with keen interest in forest fires.
DEFORESTATION IN INDONESIA
1.1 Introduction
Indonesia has witnessed some of the worst forest fires in over four decades to date and the worst
ever were the bush fires of 1982/1983, 1997/1998 and 2015 when massive fires engulfed large
tracts of forested land. Forest fires are not a new phenomenon in the world, with the Amazon
forest currently burning as well as the forest fires of California USA. Forest fires have been a hot
topic of discussion in Indonesia and the international community with concerns mainly directed
towards environmental, health and social impacts that are consequential from the haze produced
by the burning peat lands and forests. This in-depth analysis seeks to focus on deforestation in
Indonesia which has been catalyzed by forest fires, the history of the forest fires, causes of the
fires, the impact that the forest fires have had on Indonesians economically, socially and health
wise and how to mitigate the problems already caused by the fires.

1.2 History of Indonesian forest fires and causes
According to (Bradford, 2015) deforestation, is the indefinite destruction of forests with the
intent of making the land available for other purposes that may include; clearing land for
habitation purposes, extensive agriculture and as a source of raw material for the pulp and paper
industries. Indonesia in the early 1900’s had a primary, tidal and secondary forest cover of
approximately over 83% (Margono et al. 2014) as compared to about 54% according to recent
statistics by the Global Forest Resources Assessment. (Keenan et al. 2015).
The over 30% decline in forest cover from over 83% to 54% can be attributed to the slash and
burn method used to clear forests for agricultural purposes by the poor farmers as well as
plantation farmers who aim to cut on production costs, although there are other underlying
factors that will be discussed later. (Austin et al. 2019). This high decrease has led to Indonesia
surpassing Brazil for having the highest deforestation rates in the world. (Margono et al. 2014)
Shortly after gaining independence from the Netherlands, the Indonesian legislature had not
formulated any laws and policies that restricted the slash and burn method of clearing forests.
During the dry season, farmers would burn large tracts of forested land that would spread quickly
to unintended forests and regions. More so, the presence of peat lands in Indonesian forests
exacerbated the fires since peat lands tend to be highly flammable during the dry season as
compared to the rainy season when they are highly waterlogged. One of the worst fires that
necessitated the government of Indonesia to act and probably the most documented by
researchers and environmentalists were the 1982-1983 concatenation of fires that burnt over 3
million hectares of forest. (Gellert, 1998). This had been in Kalimantan region, specifically East
Kalimantan which is a fire hotspot till date. Over the years, there have been many fires but the

most serious and well documented and researched by ecologists and other varied scholars were
the 1982-1983, 1997-1998 and 2015 fires.
1.2.1 1982-1983 fires
Before the onset of dry seasons in Indonesia, when the fires are very serious, there occurs an
abnormal climate pattern called ENSO which is El Nino accompanied by the Southern
Oscillation which occurs periodically across the equatorial Pacific Ocean (Tan, 2019). The
archipelagic location of Indonesia makes the island country to be highly susceptible by this
recurrent climatic condition, ENSO, which eventually causes long droughts. The 1982-1983 fire
occurrence was during the ENSO of the same year in the Borneo province, set by the escaping
fires that were highly influenced by the extreme slash and burn, land clearing activities as well as
drought that plagued the region. The most affected area was East Kalimantan where over 3
million hectares of forest was lost due to the extreme droughts and fires of which consisted of
primary rain forest, secondary forest and peat lands that were swamped biomes. (Boer, 2002).
Generally, over 4.9 million hectares in Borneo was burnt by the fire. (Goldammer, 1999.) Forests
that had been logged over for commercial purposes before the fire were also affected extremely.
It is worthwhile to note that the percentage of logged over forests that burnt was greater than that
of untouched forests. This lead to the conclusion by researchers that the fires were motivated by
both natural weather calamities and human activities and exacerbated by logging. The slash and
burn agricultural activity practiced by shift cultivators did not have far reaching fire effects
compared to those caused by loggers. (Mackie, 1984)

1.2.2 1997-1998 fires
Before these extremely serious fires of 1997-1998, there had been other smaller fires particularly
those of 1991 and 1994-1995. Smaller in the fact that their magnitude was not as great as those
of 1983 and 1998. The haze produced by the 1994-1995 fire led to complaints by Malaysia and
Singapore thereby effecting a ban on land clearance with fire (Graham, 2015). Regardless, the
new ban and other previously initiated bans for instance, logging of trees before 35 years
initiated before 1983 were neither abided to nor enforced by the Indonesian authorities.
Official estimates from the 1997 fires by WALHI, which is an Indonesian environmental
organization, was that over 1.7 million hectares of forest had burnt all through the year up until
September of which consisted of; tree crop plantations which were the most affected, peat and
conservation forest as well as transmigration areas and regions under shifting cultivation.
(Dauvergne, 1998). Towards the end of 1997, there was an onset of rains which helped douse the
fires of western Kalimantan and Sumatra.
In 1998, East Kalimantan had not rained and there was widespread drought throughout that
region such that when the fires started again, they spread very fast and were uncontrollable.
Extinguishing them became very problematic for the fire authorities in Indonesia since the areas
under fire were in very remote areas. In addition, the fire extinguishing department was poorly
organized, lacked expertise as well as sufficient resources to control the fire and the haze
produced by the smoldering peats posed a health hazard for the fire fighters.
Both 1997 and 1998 fires were caused by human activities aimed at converting large tracts of
forested land into agricultural land all under unregulated and unenforced land usage policies and

laws. Other notable causes of the fire were land usage conflicts on land in transmigration regions
as well as carelessness by hunters and farmers when lighting fires.
1.2.3 2015 fires
It is only right to say that the 2015 forest fire was the worst that ever occurred since the 1998 and
1983 fires. Just like the previous fires both small and large in terms of the magnitude of forested
land that was burnt, the cause of the fire was human activities but particularly loggers who
cleared large forest tracts for timber and plantation farmers who burnt the remaining foliage to
clear land for palm oil tree crops. (Badri, 2019). An accompaniment of dry conditions caused by
the El Nino spread the fires extensively.
In summary, the following are the outstanding causes of the Indonesian forest fires and massive
deforestation over the past forty years:
-Logging of hardwood trees for timber and as raw materials for paper pulp industries
-Clearing and burning method used by small holder farmers as well as plantation farmers to avail
land for planting of commercial tree plants such as tea, cocoa and oil palm
-Firewood collection by poor farmers as a source of energy for cooking and financial purposes
such as charcoal burning and sale as a source of income.
-Expansive peat lands that tend to be tinderboxes when dried out and continue to smolder such
that they can blaze up at whatever time. (Gaveau et al. 2014).
-Population increase that calls for clearing more land to avail houses, urbanization and
encroachment of conserved forests that are located near human settlements.

1.3 Impacts
Deforestation caused by forest fires has generally had negative environmental, social and health
impacts to the Indonesians and its neighbors.
1.3.1 Environmental impacts
To better comprehend the negative effects the forest fires have caused the Indonesians, we need
to first understand the haze problem. Haze is the obscuring of the atmosphere by smoke, dust and
other particles (Hayasaka et al. 2014) In Indonesia, forest fires in peat lands produce smoke with
heavy residual particles and high greenhouse gas emissions that have had huge climatic
consequences. It is estimated that Indonesia has one of the leading greenhouse gas emissions,
being thirteenth globally (https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/science-and-impacts/science/
each-countrys-share-of-co2.html).
Climate change has been a major concern for many countries and world leaders. The formulation
of the Paris climate change agreement was to confront climate change and reduce increases in
world temperature to 2 0C through reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. (Rogelj et al. 2016).
In as much as Indonesia’s environment minister signed the agreement alongside other world
leaders, Indonesia still has had difficulties in reducing the emissions. This is because, even
though forest fires can be blamed on human causes, ENSO and other natural causes cannot be
eliminated as factors that can start bush fires without human’s direct interference.
Apart from climate change, bush fires have endangered the Indonesian’s biodiversity. Indonesia
is home to some of the world’s endangered animal and plant species that face extinction if
caution is not taken to protect them. Of particular interest for wildlife conservationists is Borneo
and Sumatra which has some endemic animal species like the pygmy elephant, Sumatran

Orangutan and Bornean Orangutan and other yet to be discovered animal species that thrive
there. (Posa et al. 2011). (Indonesia, W. W. F. 2008Borneo is set to be the new capital for
Indonesia while Sumatra has had some of the worst forest fires and probably, other more serious
fires are yet to come.
1.3.2 Social Impacts
When Indonesian forests are on fire, the haze produced is blown to the neighboring countries of
Singapore, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. For instance the forest fires of 1994 led to
Singapore sending complaints to Indonesia concerning the haze that obscured vision and the
atmosphere of Singapore. Today, diplomatic ties between Indonesia and its neighbors in the
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) community have been put to test due to the
ignorance of Indonesian authorities in the past in cracking down on individuals who illegally
ignite fires that end up wreaking unintended havoc to its neighboring countries. (Tobing, 2018).
Notable is the fact that, mismanagement of donations and grants from developed countries such
as Norway and the U.S.A, given to facilitate the Indonesian authorities preparedness for future
fire calamities have eventually been withdrawn or reduced. Indonesia is a developing country
that requires every penny it receives through grants and donations to not only go towards the
stated objective, but also in developing the country in order to effect a positive social impact to
its people. Social in regards to improving people’s welfare through building schools, hospitals
and equipping them with medical personnel and drugs, and building better roads and water ways
to improve the transport system of the country. A direct socio-economic impact is poverty that
has bedeviled Indonesians over the years as a consequence of property that is burnt by the fires
as well as the direct consequences of businesses, schools, hospitals and airports shutting down,
thereby cutting down the steady flow of income among people and in the economy.

1.3.3 Health Impacts
Indonesia has one of the worst cases of air pollution, always exceeding the threshold of 50 which
is classified as hazardous whenever the fire calamities hit. The consequence is that breathing the
polluted air eventually causes respiratory health complications particularly among children and
the old. (Frankenberg et al. 2005). Air smog obscuring the atmosphere causes air accidents and
deaths. When hospitals near the fire affected places are closed down, the direct effect is that the
sick and vulnerable suffer the most due to lack of medical care by health practitioners. It was
estimated that deaths caused by the effects of the fire are in thousands and cumulatively
surpassed millions over the years. The Indonesian authorities have been adamant in releasing the
official figures of the resulting deaths, directly caused by the forest fires.
1.4 Methods for mitigating future forest fires and deforestation
Indonesia’s fire calamity which we can comfortably classify as a national disaster can be
mitigated effectively by checking on clues from the history of the past fires. (Tacconi, 2016).
The following are opined methods that can be effected to mitigate the fire disasters that have
plagued Indonesia for the past four decades.
1. Increasing forest security personnel and fire firefighters quantitatively and training them
in order to increase their working quality towards the latest technology used in surveying
of forests for people trespassing the forests without official permission and fire
extinguishing.
2. Training small holder farmers on better, innovative and green methods that can be used in
clearing forests than the traditional clearing and burning method which has clearly been a
direct cause of forest fires.

3. The government authority mandated to provide licenses to palm oil plantations should
temporarily ban the current licenses to allow auditing and legality of the palm oil
plantations. This is an effective method of cracking down on illegal plantations that
encroach forests.
4. Use of firebreaks such as forest paths, pools and buffer strips that aid in prevention of the
fire from spreading. (Chisholm et al. 2016).
5. Enactment of moratoriums on clearing, drying out and burning of dry vegetation in peat
lands during the dry seasons especially the El Nino seasons when the fire break outs are
persistent and uncontrollable.
6. Developing infrastructure in forests such as game parks that would necessitate forest
personnel to patrol the forests regularly and in case of fire alerts, access to the regions of
the break out would be easy.
7. Forest security personnel should collect data on cultivators and palm oil plantation
owners farming near forests and regularly monitor their activities to determine their
legality.
8. Forest managers should integrate the local communities neighboring the forests in
sharing the forest resources in order for the community to have a sense of responsibility
and ownership towards the forest. This kind of integration helps a lot when fires break
out since the community will help in dousing the fires.
9. Efficient and accountable use of funds allocated towards fire emergencies and prevention
mechanisms, by the responsible government body
10. Since the most prevalent fire hotspots have been in Kalimantan, Borneo and Sumatra
provinces, logging and palm oil plantation farming should be banned in these areas.

Conclusion
Prevention of deforestation and forest fires in Indonesia will need a holistic approach by the
government and the local communities towards the conservation of tropical forests and its
ecosystem. Strict measures have to be formulated and enforced through an act of the Indonesian
legislature in order to discourage illegal loggers and cultivators who catalyze the fire menace that
Indonesia still faces. To revive the forest cover to its former glory, more tree nurseries need to be
cultivated and trees planted in illegal plantations and farms while vulnerable plant and animal
species endemic in Borneo and Sumatra conserved to prevent their extinction. The government
motive of shifting the capital from Jakarta is ill advised but with good intents of spreading wealth
across all Indonesians. The fact that the biodiversity ecosystem of Borneo will be destroyed by
the deforestation threatens the life of endangered species in this region as people and real estate
companies will encroach the forests as population in the new urban area increases. (Purnomo,
2017) Alternatives have to be sort before the ground breaking ceremony of the new city is made.

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