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Reuters 29 Aug 19; JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian police are investigating three palm oil companies on suspicion of starting fires on Borneo island, where environmentalists say extensive deforestation has occurred to make way for plantations, a government ministry said. The Ministry of the Environment and Forests is also investigating 24 other companies on Borneo and Sumatra island in connection with fires in their concession area, Rasio Ridho Sani, the ministry�s director general for law enforcement, told reporters. �Previously, we focused more on bringing suspects to civil courts and giving administrative sanctions. But with the forest fires still taking place in 2019, we are using criminal instruments more intensively,� Sani said. Sani identified the three companies designated as suspects by their company initials, SKM, ABP and AER. The burning of forests has become hugely contentious, partly because if can send a heavy haze over other parts of Southeast Asia, raising fears about h...

Antara 22 Aug 19; Jakarta (ANTARA) - Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Wiranto has admitted poor law enforcement against individuals applying slash and burn method caused forest and land fires. He said the government would take a different approach to stop the traditional farming practices. "This traditional society, we have reminded them. Corporations can help them with tractors (for land clearing) hence they do not have to burn the forest," Wiranto said after a meeting on land and forest fire here on Wednesday. According to Wiranto the sanction imposed for individuals that ignited the fires was ineffective to stop the practice. "It is ineffective, we have to find another way to solve the problem. Because they practise this for generations. But we have to change the mindset, and we need the help of all stakeholders to change their mindset," Wiranto remarked. The minister disclosed that 37 corporations have been warned to stop slash an...

Reuters 15 Aug 19; JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia has sealed parts of palm oil and timber concessions owned by 10 companies on Borneo island after a spate of forest fires, authorities said on Thursday, warning those involved in forest burning would be severely punished. Indonesia is under pressure to end slash-and-burn clearance of land, often on plant palm and pulp plantations. The practice caused devastating fires in 2015 that spread a choking haze across most of Southeast Asia. The disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) recorded 1,092 hot spots as of Thursday, the highest since the 2015 fires, and at least six provinces on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo have declared an emergency. About 200 hectares (494 acres) of land had been sealed in Borneo�s West Kalimantan province, the environment ministry said. Warning letters were also sent to 58 plantation firms with hot spots indicating fire or a high risk of fire, said Rasio Ridho Sani, the ministry�s director general of law enforcement. �...

Antara 13 Aug 19; Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA) - The Environment and Forestry Ministry has identified individuals who allegedly annexed thousands of hectares of land within the Tesso Nilo National Park (TNTN) area. "We have the map of who has annexed three hectares (of the national park) and who has 3,000 hectares," Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya told journalists in Pelalawan District Tuesday. The minister stated this after monitoring the land and forest fire in Riau, in the company of the Indonesian Military Chief Air Chief Marchall Hadi Tjahjanto, the Indonesian Police Chief, Gen. Tito Karnavian, and head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Lt. Gen Doni Monardo. The group took off from Roesmin Nurjadin Air Base in Pekanbaru and monitored the land and forest fire in Pelalawan and around the Tesso Nilo National Park. The forest fire in the national park was intentional as she could see some zones drawn by certain groups in the conservation area, ...

Antara 13 Aug 19; Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA) - Mahouts of the elephant Flying Squad at the Tesso Nilo National Park had to evacuate the trained elephants to a safer place, as they showed signs of stress due to a forest fire that gutted the conservation area in Pelalawan District. "The elephants have shown a change in behavior, because the fire has made them uncomfortable," chief of the Flying Squad Team, Erwin Daulay, told Antara here on Tuesday. The Tesso Nilo National Park is a conservation forest, a home for the Sumatran endemic elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus). The TNTN area was extended in 2009 to 83,068 hectares, from only 38,576 hectares in 2004, by including the limited production forest. However, massive illegal encroachment of the conservation area has changed its landscape into palm oil plantations. Daulay said the forest fire in the conservation area since August 1 had released a thick smog and it began to approach the Flying Squad camp in Lubuk Kembang Bunga ...