ENVIRONMENTAL
PANORAMA
ENVIRONMENTAL
PANORAMA
FREE FIRE FOR FUTURE
Why fires on peatland ?
Forest fires have become a seasonal phenomenon in Indonesia. In 2015, Indonesia faced massive peat fires across Borneo and Sumatra creating massive air pollution not only in their own country, but also neighbouring countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, and even in the south of Thailand. Fires occurred on all types of soils throughout Borneo, but fires on peatland were particularly concerned because the release large amount of pollution into the atmosphere; as well as, destroy the soil properties.
Peat fires are very notable in difficulty to extinguish. The attempts to prevent the fires have proved to be unsuccessful since in 2019-20, the fires have returned once again.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION
Our (Nature) Issues
Slash-and-burn agriculture is the illegal practice of clearing the land. Under the practice, farmers burn agricultural and logging debris to prepare us (the land) for new plantations of oil palm. It is arguably the easiest way to clear the land; along with, much faster, and cheaper. This method is considered to be crude deforestation and "a crime against the community". However, this method is still practiced by small holder farmers for palm oil plantations and the co-action of more influential corporations. They are the main drivers of forest fires.
The root causes of the problem start from the problem of legal land rights of small communities. It is related to us the land the government grabbed from communities and granted to corporations. According to the Agrarian law, the forest falls to the state if we are destroyed by fires. However, the land are burnt, the companies always get the first rights to it instead of giving back to the communities.
Burning activity is actually a conversion of land use. The land are intentionally burnt to expand the concession. This transformation is an illegal activity because the forest cannot be owned by private property. However, the new owners of the land involved local government officers, so it is unlikely that the government will ignore this.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION
Our demands
Our demands is to intervene within the process of the company being able to take over the land that have already burnt. To be able to interrupt the process of illegal land ownership transformation and stop the burning, the regulations for the land are required to have stronger legal frameworks. We pledge human to transform the law to be stronger, to be clearer, and to be fairer to both forest and human.
WE DEMAND FOUR POINT AS A CALL FOR JUSTICE;
1.
Stop illegal land ownership transformation.
2.
Stop using burning activity to clear the land
3.
Strengthen the land legislation
4.
Give the land back to the community