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The economics of slash and burn: A case study of the 1997-1998 Indonesian forest fires
Abstract
The slash and burn technique is used in many developing countries as a cheap means of clearing forest land for agriculture and involves cutting vegetation and setting it alight. This paper takes up a case study of the slash and burn forest fires of 1997–1998 in Indonesia and evaluates the social efficiency of this technique by means of a comparison of its economic costs with its economic benefits. The economic costs include the welfare loss caused by the fires through damage to plantations and crop cultivations, as well as the loss of direct, indirect and non use value of environmental goods, such as tropical rainforests damaged in the fires. The corresponding economic benefits consist of cost saving to shifting cultivators and plantation companies because of the elimination of the need to employ the more expensive mechanical (or non fire-using) methods of land clearing and because of the decreased requirement of fertilisers at the sites cleared for agriculture. A comparison of these costs and benefits reveals an estimated loss of US$ 20.1 billion as a result of use of slash and burn in Indonesia in 1997–1998, indicating that use of this technique is highly inefficient from a social perspective. Policy recommendations based on these findings include, among others, a proposal for imposition of a ‘land clearing’ tax on plantation companies in Indonesia in order to fund a state agency entrusted with the task of mechanically clearing forest land as per requirement, and multilateral aid transfers directed towards providing alternative employment to shifting cultivators.
... Actually, research on forest and land fires in Indonesia has been widely carried out. The focus of research is generally on biophysical aspects, such as their impact on biota [9], the relationship between drought and fire [10], on the value of losses in economic term [11][12][13], and on international cooperation to tackle forest fires [14], [15]. But how the environmental losses from forest and land fires are used in the judicial process have never been done or are rarely done. ...
... Previous studies of the value of forest destruction have shown very different results. For the case of forest fires in East Kalimantan in 1997-1999 which damaged around 5-6 million ha of forest, a loss of 10 billion USD was obtained by [7], while another study found a figure of 21.1 billion USD loss [13]. Using the figures obtained by [13], the value of forest damage due to fire is 53,069,755 IDR per ha assuming that the exchange rate of the rupiah against the dollar is 14,000 IDR per USD. ...
... For the case of forest fires in East Kalimantan in 1997-1999 which damaged around 5-6 million ha of forest, a loss of 10 billion USD was obtained by [7], while another study found a figure of 21.1 billion USD loss [13]. Using the figures obtained by [13], the value of forest damage due to fire is 53,069,755 IDR per ha assuming that the exchange rate of the rupiah against the dollar is 14,000 IDR per USD. There is a huge difference in the value obtained. ...
Forest fires in Indonesia occur repeatedly every year and longer droughts are generally followed by more widespread forest fires. The impact caused by the forest fire is very significant environ-mentally, economically, and socially. Almost all of these forest fires are triggered by human actions, so it makes sense that actors who cause forest fires must take responsibility for their actions before the law. But unfortunately, law enforcement against forest fires is very awkward and unfair. Using satellite imagery and land use maps, one can detect the distribution of hotspots that are most likely to cause forest fires and who controls the burning land. Forest fires generally occur on land that appears neglected. Law enforcement is generally carried out against private actors who are considered to control land that is on fire, while government actors who also have the responsibility for the absence of forest fires have never been prosecuted as happened to private actors. Furthermore, the way the government calculates losses due to forest fires is very unreasonable.
... "Slash and burn" is a common agricultural practice in several countries in SEA and can be described as a cheap land clearing technique for agricultural development purposes that has been used traditionally (Nganje et al., 2001;Varma, 2003). This technique involves the process of cutting vegetation and setting it alight (Varma, 2003). ...
... "Slash and burn" is a common agricultural practice in several countries in SEA and can be described as a cheap land clearing technique for agricultural development purposes that has been used traditionally (Nganje et al., 2001;Varma, 2003). This technique involves the process of cutting vegetation and setting it alight (Varma, 2003). Cotton (1999) and Jones (2006), have identified and described groups of people who practise "slash and burn" for agricultural purposes. ...
... An estimation of the economic loss from the 1997 haze episode in SEA was about USD 4 billion (Tangang et al., 2010). A study by Varma (2003) revealed that the estimated economic loss of the "slash and burn" practices that caused the SEA forest fires in 1997/1998 was USD 20.1 billion. The estimates of the economic impact of haze in the year 1997 by Mohd Shahwahid and Othman (1999) included several aspects such as cost of illness, productivity loss, declines in tourist arrivals, flight cancellations, decline in fish landings, cost of fire-fighting, cloud seeding, and expenditure on masks (Fig. 8). ...
Haze is a common phenomenon afflicting Southeast Asia (SEA), including Malaysia, and has occurred almost every year within the last few decades. Haze is associated with high level of air pollutants; it reduces visibility and affects human health in the affected SEA countries. This manuscript aims to review the potential origin, chemical compositions, impacts and mitigation strategies of haze in Malaysia. “Slash and burn” agricultural activities, deforestation and oil palm plantations on peat areas, particularly in Sumatra and Kalimantan, Indonesia were identified as the contributing factors to high intensity combustions that results in transboundary haze in Malaysia. During the southwest monsoon (June to September), the equatorial SEA region experiences a dry season and thus an elevated number of fire events. The prevailing southerly and south-westerly winds allow the cross-boundary transportation of pollutants from the burning areas in Sumatra and Kalimantan in Indonesia, to Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo, respectively. The dry periods caused by the El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO) prolong the duration of poor air quality. The size range of particulate matter (PM) in haze samples indicates that haze is dominated by fine particles. Secondary inorganic aerosols (SIA, such as SO4²⁻ and NH4⁺) and organic substances (such as levoglucosan, LG) were the main composition of PM during haze episodes. Local vehicular emissions and industrial activities also contribute to the amount of pollutants and can introduce toxic material such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Haze episodes have contributed to increasing hospital visits for treatments related to chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, upper respiratory infections, asthma and rhinitis. Respiratory mortality increased 19% due to haze episodes. Children and senior citizens are more likely to suffer the health impacts of haze. The inpatient cost alone from haze episodes was estimated at around USD 91,000 per year in Malaysia. Almost all economic sectors also experienced losses, with the heaviest losses in the agriculture and tourism sectors. This review suggests several ways forward to reduce haze episodes in SEA and Malaysia. These include economic approaches, research collaborations and science-policy interface. Improving forecasting capabilities can help reduce response time to burning events and subsequently reduce its impacts. Lastly, commitment and involvement by individuals, government agencies, and the entrepreneurial private sectors are crucial to reduce biomass burning (BB) and haze episodes in SEA.
... "Slash and burn" is a common agricultural practice in several countries in SEA and can be described as a cheap land clearing technique for agricultural development purposes that has been used traditionally (Nganje et al., 2001;Varma, 2003). This technique involves the process of cutting vegetation and setting it alight (Varma, 2003). ...
... "Slash and burn" is a common agricultural practice in several countries in SEA and can be described as a cheap land clearing technique for agricultural development purposes that has been used traditionally (Nganje et al., 2001;Varma, 2003). This technique involves the process of cutting vegetation and setting it alight (Varma, 2003). Cotton (1999) and Jones (2006), have identified and described groups of people who practise "slash and burn" for agricultural purposes. ...
... An estimation of the economic loss from the 1997 haze episode in SEA was about USD 4 billion (Tangang et al., 2010). A study by Varma (2003) revealed that the estimated economic loss of the "slash and burn" practices that caused the SEA forest fires in 1997/1998 was USD 20.1 billion. The estimates of the economic impact of haze in the year 1997 by Mohd Shahwahid and Othman (1999) included several aspects such as cost of illness, productivity loss, declines in tourist arrivals, flight cancellations, decline in fish landings, cost of fire-fighting, cloud seeding, and expenditure on masks (Fig. 8). ...
... Owing to this method's high efficiency and low cost, it has been adopted in a number of developing nations. However, the employment of S & B is not without dire consequences, the most serious of which are trans-national repercussions on the environment, economy and society [2]. ...
... Although prevalent across the globe, the practice of S & B is particularly rampant in Indonesia [1,2]. Consequently, neighboring Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Thailand are negatively affected by S & B techniques in Indonesia [3]. ...
... It is also believed to enhance soil nutrients, balance soil pH levels and soil structure, as well as reduce aluminium presence. Besides these benefits, S & B is viewed as advantageous because it prevents growth of weeds and incidence of pests and diseases [2,3,[7][8][9][10]. ...
Abstract: Recurrent haze in Southeast Asian countries including Singapore is largely attributable
to rampant forest fires in Indonesia due to, for example, extensive slash-and-burn (S & B)
culture. Drawing on the “treadmill of production” and environmental governance approach,
we examine causes and consequences of this culture. We found that, despite some perceived
benefits, its environmental consequences include deforestation, soil erosion and degradation, global
warming, threats to biodiversity, and trans-boundary haze pollution, while the societal consequences
comprise regional tension, health risks, economic and productivity losses, as well as food insecurity.
We propose sustainability through a plural coexistence framework of governance for targeting S & B
that incorporates strategies of incentives, education and community resource management.
... Disepanjang wilayah Asia Tenggara penggunaan pembersihan lahan dengan metode pembakaran merupakan hal yang umum dan merupakan penyebab utama terjadinya kebakaran hutan (Varma, 2003;Lohman et al., 2007). Banyak tuduhan diarahkan pada parkebunan-perkebunan kelapa sawit, termasuk perusahaan-perusahaan yang terdaftar di Singapura dan Malaysia, berdasarkan bukti dari potret satelit dan investigasi lapangan. ...
... Fakta bahwa banyak pemilik perkebunan besar juga merupakan pemilik perkebunan skala kecil turut menyulitkan untuk mengidentifikasi apakah para pemilik perkebunan kecil atau korporasi perkebunan besar yang seara langsung bertanggung jawab terhadap praktek-praktek pembersihan ini ( Gaveau et al., 2014). Kompleksitas persoalan pembersihan lahan ini secara tradisiomal memang digunakan oleh para petani Indonesia untuk membersihkan lahan (Varma, 2003). Murdiyarso & Adiningsih (2007) mencatat baha kebijakan dan praktek-praktek kehutanan di dukung oleh para pengampu kebijakan, khususnya regulasi terkait penebangan kayu, terbukti dengan meluasnya pembersihan lahan di Borne Indonesia. ...
Forest fires and haze become annual trend phenomena of the failure Southeast asia regional and related institutions in prevention efforts of haze problems. Comprehensive Monitoring and rules enforcement to prohibition forest fires shows how authorized institutions have difficulties and boundaries to punish the land owners who burn the forests, and to stop cleaning land by burning the forest and land. This research describes the causes of haze occur in Southeast asia, the threats of haze pollution and why ASEAN through its ASEAN Way not success yet in solving haze pollution that contributes insecure human security of millions people in this region. This research apply neoliberal institutionalism approach and collect the data from library research. This research shows that in regional level, ASEAN continuesly do cooperation and formulate policies to solve the regional haze problems. In Ministerial Meeting Level, ASEAN has reviewed Regional Haze Action Plan and finally sign the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, an agreement which is binded and ratified all the member of ASEAN. Keywords: Haze, Human Security, ASEAN Way
... The main impact of forest and land fires is the haze, which is not only impacted of human health, but also socio-economic activities. Forest and land fire also caused land degradation and changes of forest function [5] Forest and land fire is influenced by climates, fuels, ignition agents and human activities [6]. However, climates and human activities have become the dominant factor in Indonesia [5]. ...
... Forest and land fire also caused land degradation and changes of forest function [5] Forest and land fire is influenced by climates, fuels, ignition agents and human activities [6]. However, climates and human activities have become the dominant factor in Indonesia [5]. Climate (especially rainfall) will be affected the land drought. ...
Risk analysis is a method used to determine the probability of disaster in the current and future. This research analyse of fire risk in West Kalimantan by using extreme climate and vulnerability analysis. Extreme climate was calculated based on the extreme dry rainfall from regional climate model RegCM4.4 outputs. Vulnerability analysis was conducted by using a composite mapping analysis used hotspot data and eleven indicators of vulnerability. We found that very high level of extreme dry rainfall located in the southern region and the western coast area of West Kalimantan. This condition was influenced by environment factors such as topography and land use. Extreme dry rainfall also associated with the pattern of annual rainfall in West Kalimantan which ranges between 1753-4861 mm. Modelling of the vulnerability of land and forest fires in West Kalimantan showed that the land use has impact 24% on the vulnerability model. The results of the vulnerability model analysis shows that the plantations areas and secondary swamp forests are highly vulnerable, particularly on the peat area with depth about 50-200 cm. The analysis of land and forest fires risk found that the vulnerable areas have high risk which is largely unmanaged plantation areas and peatlands.
... Aside from the impact of these HPE event towards health, economic sector in Malaysia also suffered a severe loss. It is stated that the estimated economic loss of the slash and burn practices that caused by the Southeast Asia forest fires in 1997 was USD 20.1 billion (Varma, 2003). ...
Haze episode in Malaysia typically takes place during the dry monsoon season. As a result, high concentration of atmospheric particles was recorded primarily brought by transboundary air pollution from the neighbour country. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate and compare the level of particulate matter (PM 10) at urban-industrial areas during the episodic haze episodes in Malaysia. Hourly PM 10 concentration with the concentration of gaseous air pollutants such as NO x , NO 2 , SO 2 , CO and O 3 and meteorological parameters (relative humidity, temperature, wind speed) at urban-industrial areas namely Shah Alam (Selangor), Nilai (Negeri Sembilan), Bukit Rambai (Melaka) and Larkin (Johor), during the haze episode in 1997, 2005, 2013 and 2015 were used for analysis. In this study, spatio-temporal and correlation analysis were used to provide an overview of the distribution pattern and examine the relationships between the gaseous air pollutants and meteorological parameters with PM 10 concentration. From the descriptive statistics, it was observed that PM 10 level for all study areas were skewed to the right (> + 1) indicating occurrences of extreme events. A significant peak of PM 10 concentration for each year of haze events were observed to be started in June or during the southwest monsoon to the inter monsoon in October. The occurrence, duration and impact of 1997 haze was detected to be identical to the 2015 haze event that reached its peak in October. From the correlation analysis, PM 10 concentration were strongly correlated to the CO concentration (r > 0.5) during High Particulate Event (HPE). Very weak relationship of PM 10 level with meteorological parameters (r < 0.3) were observed. Interestingly, O 3 level shows very strong correlation with the meteorological parameters during HPE. The findings provide comprehensive evaluation on PM 10 level during the historic haze episodes, thus can help the authorities in developing policies and guidelines to effectively monitor and reduce the negative impact of haze events.
... Abandoned land has started from the excessive exploitation of natural resources for various purposes [28], including for shifting agriculture [29], for plantation development [30], for transmigration programs [31], and others. The slash-and-burn process [32] to clear forests is intended for shifting cultivation or for the development of plantations, since this is economically inexpensive and simple to operate [33]. However, the deforested lands are sometimes sub-optimally used; thus, prolonged AL are formed. ...
The Indonesian land area is 191.1 million ha, part of which is abandoned land in various
agroecosystems that have the potential for expanding the agricultural area. The purpose of this research
was to geospatially analyze abandoned land based on its agroecosystem at the national and
district levels, as well as to evaluate the land suitability of the land for expanding agricultural development.
The methods included: (1) geospatial analysis of the national land cover map at a scale
of 1:250,000 combined with soil and climate information to identify abandoned land and examine
its agroecosystem, (2) selecting representative districts in each agroecosystem for visual interpretation
using high-resolution imagery, i.e., SPOT 6/7, (3) assessing the land suitability of abandoned
land for agricultural development at the national and district levels, and (4) predicting national
abandoned land and its land suitability. The essential finding is the identification of abandoned
land at around 42.6 million ha in Indonesia distributed over six agroecosystems, with the widest
being in dry lowland and wet climates. Then, 54 districts were selected to characterize abandoned
land by using SPOT 6/7 high-resolution imagery and were interpreted visually. It was found that
the abandoned land covered approximately 16.9 million ha. The distribution of abandoned land
from the interpretation of satellite imagery was smaller than that of geospatial analysis due to differences
in the map scale and the use of ancillary data. The identification of abandoned land from
high-resolution imagery should be carried out for all regions of Indonesia to accurately map the
distribution of the abandoned land and characterize the properties. However, it requires a large
amount of time, cost, and facilities to complete the inventory. The geospatial analysis that combined
imageries and ancillary data identified 27.7 million ha of abandoned land suitable for expanding
the agricultural area. The largest suitable abandoned land for the purpose was found in the lowlands
with a wet climate, especially in Papua, Kalimantan, and Sumatra islands. The identified suitable
abandoned land of 54 districts differed by scale, in which it was 11.2 million ha at the scale of
1:250,000 and 8.5 million ha at the scale of 1:50,000, respectively. The potential land expansion for
food crops, particularly paddy fields, was only 2.2 million ha, located in mineral swamp land, which
was predominantly located in Papua, with inadequate accessibility. Expanding paddy fields for
national food security in the future would be constrained by less suitable land resources, while the
near future challenge is the competition of land allocation for agricultural and non-agricultural sectors,
as well as for food crops and plantations.
... Shifting agriculture must be separated from other forms that use fire for the establishment of permanent agricul-ture, ranging from small-scale forest clearance for permanent agriculture to large-scale forest clearance for the establishment of permanent industrial plantations. The term 'slash-and-burn agriculture', thus, sometimes becomes a misleading 'catch-all' category in policy and scientific research 30,31 . Empirical studies from Odisha have shown that distinct approaches are needed to ensure continued productivity of land that has been under SC even at the village level 32 , suggesting that disaggregation of the present body of knowledge is key to effective policy-making. ...
Shifting cultivation (SC) is a system of agriculture widespread in the tropical and subtropical re-gions of the world. In India, it is rampant in the East and North East states. SC has been overwhelm-ingly portrayed as a threat to ecosystems and climate, ignoring the ecological value of the fallow phase and secondary forests. Finding ways to manage the practice of SC without affecting agricul-tural productivity is essential for climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation and the wel-fare of indigenous communities. This study analyses recent research on the impacts of SC with regard to ecosystem effects at different stages of the process.
... Besides, more land has been cleared year by year for expanding palm oil cultivation areas. The method of slash and burn (S&B) by palm oil companies and local farmers was widely used in Indonesia to dispose of the waste of deforestation due to low cost and adequate time (Varma, 2003). The draining of peatlands, especially in Sumatra and Kalimantan for pulp and paper plantation purposes, caused heavy smoke and became unable to control. ...
The flood phenomenon in Malaysia is considered a yearly event that most of the time hits the east coast area (Kelantan, Terengganu, and Pahang). It is also understood that when the floods happen, the government would spend a certain amount of money to cover damages and losses due floods. As the flood may affect society on the whole, we should think how to assist the flood victims and at the same time reduce the government expenses regarding the floods. This research therefore is conducted to investigate the effect of floods on society in terms of finances, health, source of income, and property. This research also observes the experience of the flood victims staying at the flood evacuation centre, and finally proposes a permanent flood evacuation centre base on the waqf principle. To achieve the stated objectives, a case study on two flood-prone areas, Tumpat and Pasir Puteh located in Kelantan, is conducted. Overall it is found that floods have affected the victims (villages) in terms of finances, health, sources of income as well as properties where some of them have to borrow money from relatives or friends to bear all the losses caused by floods. Besides that, asking about their experiences staying at the flood evacuation centre, the majority of the victims are satisfied with the food and other necessities prepared for them. Unfortunately, the bad experiences that they have had during their stay were basically in terms of cleanliness of the centres, Shariah issues that emerged because of the arrangement of the spaces, and also limited activities conducted for children or parents. This research thus suggests a permanent flood evacuation centre based on the waqf principle to enhance the existing management of flood evacuation centres. The proposed centre would cover both physical and spiritual aspects for the flood victims where appropriate activities or modules will be structured for the children as well as the parents to enhance their skills and increase their living standards in future. Interestingly, all the respondents accepted this suggestion positively and were happy with our proposal for establishing a permanent waqf flood evacuation centre. This research thus is significant in giving suggestions to the authority to build permanent flood evacuation centres using the waqf principle, which provides avenues to the villages (in a low-income group) to enhance their income and increase their standard of thinking and living.
... Besides, more land has been cleared year by year for expanding palm oil cultivation areas. The method of slash and burn (S&B) by palm oil companies and local farmers was widely used in Indonesia to dispose of the waste of deforestation due to low cost and adequate time (Varma, 2003). The draining of peatlands, especially in Sumatra and Kalimantan for pulp and paper plantation purposes, caused heavy smoke and became unable to control. ...
Cash waqf is one of the mechanisms of charitable behaviour in Islamic belief and has been recognized as a way of waqf practice. The objective of this study is to test the relevancy of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) in predicting the intention to perform cash waqf among university students. Data for this study were collected through structured questionnaires both in Malaysia and Thailand. A questionnaire using a seven-point scale was employed to collect the data for the current study and items from previous studies were modified to adapt to a cash waqf context. The questionnaires were distributed to 400 hundred students of the Universiti Teknologi MARA Kelantan Campus, Malaysia and 200 hundred students of the Prince of Songkla University Pattani Campus, Thailand. The return rate for the Malaysia students was 94.7% (379 samples) while the Thailand students’ return rate was 86% (172 samples). The results obtained from the data collection suggested that all three independent variables (attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control) have a significant relationship with the intention to perform cash waqf. Hence, the TPB framework explained the intention to perform cash waqf.
... Kebijakan pemerintah untuk memberikan konsesi lahan industri juga menjadi salah satu pendorong aktivitas membakar hutan dan lahan (Akbar, 2011;M et al., 2018;Sloan et al., 2017;Thoha et al., 2019). Selain itu, membakar untuk membuka lahan pertanianmerupakan praktik umum yang dilakukan petani karena lebih murah dan cepat (Sukarman, 2015;Varma, 2003). ...
The purpose of this research is the use of land in managing the land and doing environmentally friendly treatment in clearing the land. The method that was carried out by meta-analysis with 175 journal articles related to forest and land fires in Indonesia was then identified to produce an inventory of data for meta-analysis. The results of the research through an independence test between the factors driving fires from anthropogenic activities and the characteristics of fires indicate that the factor of weak law enforcement and protection in land tenure is significantly related to the characteristics of fires. The conclusions from this research are that land use rights must be clear and fair, concession holders have managed their land well and provide sanctions for those who violate the applicable regulations and the importance of developing innovations in clearing and managing peatlands without burning according to needs and providing benefits. economy, especially for small farmers, thereby reducing vertical and horizontal conflicts. Keywords: Land, Fire, Forest.
... In addition, peatland fires are responsible for forest habitat loss and degradation for flora and fauna, including those in marine systems (Jaafar and Loh, 2014;Posa et al., 2011;Yule, 2010). Fire suppression efforts, lost timber and crop resources, missed workdays, and travel disruptions incur high economic costs (Barber and Schweithelm, 2000;Tacconi, 2003;Ruitenbeek, 1999), It is estimated that Indonesia lost US$20.1 billion during the 1997/98 fire season alone (Varma, 2003). The World Bank reported (2016) that economic loss during Indonesia's 2015 fires is estimated exceed US $16 billion. ...
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) melaporkan bahwa peningkatan emisi GRK hutan dan lahan Indonesia pada tahun 2019 terutama disebabkan oleh pembakaran lahan gambut yang kaya karbon. Sekitar 1,65 juta ha terbakar dan setengah juta ha gambut terbakar dalam peristiwa kebakaran hebat pada tahun 2019, namun emisi GRK (gas rumah kaca) yang dihasilkan hampir mendekati dibandingkan dengan kebakaran tahun 2015 di mana 2,6 juta ha area terbakar. Ribuan hektar lahan yang secara ekologis penting dibakar, mengakibatkan kabut asap beracun yang mengancam kesehatan manusia serta mengganggu hutan alam dan habitat satwa liar. Lahan gambut terdiri dari bahan organik yang terdekomposisi, dan degradasi gambut akan menghasilkan emisi GRK dalam jumlah yang signifikan, terutama jika areal tersebut terbakar. Penurunan muka air tanah (GWL) di lahan gambut akan meningkatkan kepekaan terhadap kebakaran karena kondisi permukaan gambut yang lebih kering. Upaya restorasi yang dilakukan di ekosistem gambut yang terdegradasi (yaitu: pembasahan dan revegetasi) tampaknya merupakan solusi terbaik, jika dan jika kegiatan manajemen pencegahan kebakaran benar-benar dilaksanakan dengan baik. Pemadaman kebakaran memiliki potensi tinggi untuk mengurangi emisi GRK akibat kebakaran gambut ke atmosfer. Keberhasilan pemadaman kebakaran lahan gambut akan sangat bergantung pada keterampilan petugas pemadam kebakaran, strategi, dan ketersediaan peralatan, baik langsung maupun tidak langsung di lapangan. Kurangnya pengetahuan dan pengalaman untuk memerangi kebakaran gambut akan menyebabkan lebih banyak kebakaran dan berpotensi menimbulkan kebakaran yang tidak terkendali. Terakhir, kondisi ini akan menghasilkan emisi GRK yang signifikan karena gambut kering yang terbakar sulit dikendalikan. Kata kunci: CAMS, GRK, kebakaran gambut, pemadaman, restorasi
... The plant production in a tropical rainforest ecosystem in Wet Sumatra, Indonesia, decreased more than 50% during dry and haze conditions in 1997 [122]. The following study by Varma [123] also found that the direct and indirect costs were evaluated at USD 20.1 billion attributed to slash and burn practices that caused the SEA forest fires in 1997/1998 in Indonesia. The direct cost referred to the loss of crop production and plant, whereas indirect cost was from environmental goods of tropical rainforest. ...
Haze is a well-known air pollution phenomenon linked to the severe and persistent particulate matter (PM) episodes in Southeast Asia (SEA), which significantly impacts the environment, health, and economy. This work reviewed for the first time the characteristics of haze episodes in terms of PM concentrations, chemical compositions, and the causes of haze in both Lower (Maritime) and Upper (Mainland) SEA. In addition, we carried out a systematic comparison of the frequency and intensity of haze events through SEA regions in recent years. Our finding indicated that the different trend of haze frequency and intensity between SEA cities are not only due to local air pollution sources such as biomass burning (BB) but also meteorology and long-range transport. Other sources such as secondary aerosols also play an important role in haze formation, but they have not been comprehensively investigated in previous studies. Due to the complicated formation mechanisms and the transportations of haze and its impacts on SEA’s human health and economy, more sophisticated and specific policies are needed to deal with haze issues not only for individual countries but also on a regional scale.
... Recovering and transforming agroforestry waste biomass presents many benefits [52]. As referenced above, some of these benefits include rural development and wildfire risk reduction [97,98]. ...
The paradigm shift towards sustainable growth is urgent, and biomass, which is the oldest energy source that humans have used since the discovery of fire, might play an important role. Biomass waste from forestry and agriculture is expected to fuel part of the increasing demand for biomass, and its valorization allows for more the efficient use of nutrients and resources. In this study, we carried out an extensive literature review on the valorization of residual agroforestry biomass since the 1970s to understand the leading research focuses on the subject over the last few decades, identify the most recent trends, and establish a possible solution path for the future of biomass. It was observed that most studies focused on biomass as being capable of replacing fossil energy sources. According to the literature, biomass has the most significant potential to meet requirements and ensure fuel supplies in the future. The developments of the last decades have significantly improved the conversion processes, leading to greener solutions, but there is still much to be studied and put into practice. Closing the loop into biomass waste recovery will be essential for a genuinely circular bioeconomy.
... We estimated the economic costs of Indonesian fires, focusing on the six largest dry season (August-October) fire events from 2004 to 2015 (Fig. 1). Previous estimates of fire cost have included different economic losses 22,30 , with health impacts, CO 2 emissions and damage to crops, forests, and plantation causing the majority of the total costs 9 . For this study we have therefore focused on these three main contributing sectors (Supplementary Table 1) and we do not attempt to estimate the other costs and impacts of fire. ...
Deforestation and drainage has made Indonesian peatlands susceptible to burning. Large fires occur regularly, destroying agricultural crops and forest, emitting large amounts of CO 2 and air pollutants, resulting in adverse health effects. In order to reduce fire, the Indonesian government has committed to restore 2.49 Mha of degraded peatland, with an estimated cost of US$3.2-7 billion. Here we combine fire emissions and land cover data to estimate the 2015 fires, the largest in recent years, resulted in economic losses totalling US$28 billion, whilst the six largest fire events between 2004 and 2015 caused a total of US$93.9 billion in economic losses. We estimate that if restoration had already been completed, the area burned in 2015 would have been reduced by 6%, reducing CO 2 emissions by 18%, and PM 2.5 emissions by 24%, preventing 12,000 premature mortalities. Peatland restoration could have resulted in economic savings of US$8.4 billion for 2004–2015, making it a cost-effective strategy for reducing the impacts of peatland fires to the environment, climate and human health.
... Wildfire can be the intended outcome of the behaviour of economic agents, where its timing and frequency is determined to optimise an objective function (Varma, 2003;Yoder, 2004;Prestemon and Butry, 2005;Purnomo et al., 2017). Economic models can be used to assess the efficiency of wildfire use, the extent to which its occurrence aligns with its socially desirable level. ...
Although it has long been recognised that human activities affect fire regimes, the interactions between humans and fire are complex, imperfectly understood, constantly evolving, and lacking any kind of integrative global framework. Many different approaches are used to study human-fire interactions, but in general they have arisen in different disciplinary contexts to address highly specific questions. Models of human-fire interactions range from conceptual local models to numerical global models. However, given that each type of model is highly selective about which aspects of human-fire interactions to include, the insights gained from these models are often limited and contradictory, which can make them a poor basis for developing fire-related policy and management practices. Here, we first review different approaches to modelling human-fire interactions and then discuss ways in which these different approaches could be synthesised to provide a more holistic approach to understanding human-fire interactions. We argue that the theory underpinning many types of models was developed using only limited amounts of data and that, in an increasingly data-rich world, it is important to re-examine model assumptions in a more systematic way. All of the models are designed to have practical outcomes but are necessarily simplifications of reality and as a result of differences in focus, scale and complexity, frequently yield radically different assessments of what might happen. We argue that it should be possible to combine the strengths and benefits of different types of model through enchaining the different models, for example from global down to local scales or vice versa. There are also opportunities for explicit coupling of different kinds of model, for example including agent-based representation of human actions in a global fire model. Finally, we stress the need for co-production of models to ensure that the resulting products serve the widest possible community.
... 95% of such fires occurred in spring and autumn in Mongolia, China (Goldammer, 2001). Land clearing by slash and burn method is attributed as a common cause of forest fire in South East Asia (Varma, 2003;Yong et al., 2016). In Japan, though the climate is humid but yearly, more than 4000 forest fire cases were recorded damaging 4000 ha of forests in the 1980s and 2300 ha in the 1990s (Zorn et. ...
Forest ecosystems are depleting and heading towards degradation which would adversely affect the world's socio-economic harmony. Various disasters disturb the cordial relationship of the flora and fauna and impose imbalance in the ecology as a whole; forest fire is one of its kind. India has witnessed a 125% rise in forest fire occurrences between the years 2015 and 2017. This paper presents a study of various factors and the analysis of forest fire in Sikkim. The period of 10 years, forest fire incidences, i.e., from the year 2004 to the year 2014 have been considered for the study. The forest fire data was collected from Forest and Environment Department, Government of Sikkim, and preliminary processing was performed to check for anomalies. The study observed that there has been an increased forest fire incidence over the years and highest being in the year 2009. These fire incidences have damaged a total area of 5,047.16 ha of land damaging various flora and fauna. It was observed that the maximum forest fire cases are below an altitude of 1500m, during winter months (December to February extending to March) and in sub-tropical Sal (Shorea robusta) forest. West district of Sikkim recorded the highest number of forest fire incidences and area covered followed by south and east districts; the north district was least affected. As per the visual interpretation of forest fire incidence data and literature review, the main factors responsible for forest fire in Sikkim are low rainfall, dry winter season, and type of vegetation. Also, a linear regression was performed between weather factors like average temperature (°C), relative humidity (%), and wind velocity (Km/h) on incidences of forest fire between the year 2009-2014 (n=389). It was found that the average temperature (r=0.37, Slope=9.59 and SD= ±12.00) and relative humidity (r=-0.6, Slope=-4.52, and SD=±2.68) plays a moderate linear relationship in influencing the incidences of forest fires. However, wind velocity showed almost a flat curve indicating its minimal role in influencing forest fire incidences. Parameter modelling and preparation of forest fire risk zone map would be an effective tool in preventing and managing forest fire in Sikkim.
... Lack of understanding in managing peat for agricultural cultivation may cause environmental damage such as a decrease in groundwater level , changes in the physical properties of peat to become denser, lower total porosity, diffusion of oxygen, air capacity, the volume [16], an irreversible decrease in the soil leading to CO2 emissions [17][18][19] and also affected the distribution of moisture throughout the peat soil profile [20]. Degraded peat is also susceptible to high fire risk which causes danger of smoke and fog which in turn results in economic losses [21], health, and additional CO2 emissions [22][23][24]. ...
Peatlands have long been cultivated for various agricultural crops in Indonesia. However, nowadays land fires are often associated with drained peatlands. We present a four-year study looking at the effects of groundwater level (GWL) on peat reduction, moisture content, and yield. Observations were made on oil palm plantations in tropical peatlands of Riau Province. GWL was observed in 417 plots of 139 blocks and recorded once a week. Peat moisture was monitored automatically and recorded every hour. Subsidence poles were made in 36 blocks and recorded once a month. The results showed that peat subsidence, water content, and yield were affected by GWL fluctuations. There is a relationship between GWL and changes in peat subsidence (R2 = 0.26). A strong relationship was seen between the GWL and the water content of the peat soil at the 10 cm layer (R2 = 0.65). A strong relationship was also found between GWL and oil palm yield 20 months later (R2 = 0.65). In conclusion, by maintaining GWL at a depth of 40-60 cm, peat moisture at the surface can be maintained, peat subsidence can be minimized and oil palm production remains high at an average of 22 tonnes year-1, thereby also reducing susceptibility to fire.
... The first practice includes fire usage to burn forest directly, which bears a significant economic value for especially smallholder agriculture, as a cost efficient way of land clearing instead of relying on costly machinery [8,94]. This traditionally imbedded and still practiced slash-and-burn agriculture relates to Archetype 2, which showed the highest proportion for plantation, followed by secondary and primary forest [8,[95][96][97]. Archetype 2 in plantation forest may refer to rotation cycles (cutting for new replanting), rather than slash-and-burn agriculture [6]. ...
Tropical forest disturbances linked to fire usage cause large amounts of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and environmental damages. Supporting precise GHG estimations and counteracting illegal fire usages in the tropics require timely and thematically detailed large-scale information on fire-related forest disturbances. Multi-sensor optical and radar detection and ranging (radar) remote sensing data combined with active fire alerts shows the potential for a more in-depth characterization of fire-related forest disturbances. We utilized dense optical (Landsat-7, Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2) and radar (Sentinel-1) time series to individually map forest disturbances in the province of Riau (Indonesia) for 2018–2019. We combined the sensor-specific optical and radar forest disturbance maps with daily active fire alerts and classified their temporal relationship (predating, coinciding, postdating) into seven so-called archetypes of fire-related forest disturbances. The archetypes reflect sensor-specific sensitives of optical (e.g., changes in tree foliage) and radar (e.g., changes in tree structure) data to detect varying types of forest disturbances, ranging from either a loss of tree foliage and/or structure predating, coinciding or postdating fires. These can be related to different magnitudes of fire-related forest disturbances and burn severities and can be associated with specific land management practices, such as slash-and-burn agriculture and salvage logging. This can support policy development, local and regional forest management and law enforcement to reduce illegal fire usage in the tropics. Results suggest that a delayed or opposing forest disturbance detection in the optical and radar signal is not only caused by environmental influences or different observation densities but, in some cases, such as fire-related forest disturbances, can be related to their different sensitives to detect changes in tree foliage and structure. Multi-sensor-based forest monitoring approaches should, therefore, not simply combine optical and radar time series on a data level, as it bears the risk of introducing artefacts.
... Persistent and intensive drainage for logging, plantations, and community agriculture has caused extensive peatland drying and degradation (Cattau et al. 2016;Page and Hooijer 2016). These conditions, and the absence of consistent policy measures for sustainable peatland management, contributed to the fires that burned 1.4 million hectares (ha) of peatland in 1997 and 0.4 million ha during the 2015 El Niño in Indonesia (Budiman et al. forthcoming;Huijnen et al. 2016;Tacconi 2016;Varma 2003). ...
This study assessed critical aspects in the governance of peatland restoration in South Sumatra and its possible impacts.
... In contrast, GL was consistently lower in 2020 at all considered periods (i.e., before and during lockdown), while FC was lower in the period 01 May-30 May 2020 (i.e., Level-4 lockdown). The clearing of land by burning FC and SL is well established in the literature (Varma, 2003;Stellmes et al., 2013;Schneibel et al., 2017); thus, not surprising in this study. For example, Schneibel et al. (2017) found that deforestation of Miombo forests in Angola was driven by fires mainly occurring in the areas close to agricultural areas, villages, and roads. ...
Across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), biomass burning for land clearance, grazing management, and eradication of invasive plant species emit various pollutants into the atmosphere and thus affect air quality, human health, and microclimates. The seasonality of fire events generally follows that of rainfall. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Africa in February 2020, several countries have implemented lockdown regulations that restrict mobility, trade, and other socio-economic
activities. It is not clear how the lockdown restrictions would affect wildfire spread, density, and emissions. This study sought to address this gap by analysing changes in Black Carbon (BC), smoke+polluted dust AOD, and Carbon monoxide (CO), as well as the burned area (BA) and fire density using multi-source data at periods consistent with lockdown restrictions. Generally, the results indicated an increase in emissions (CO, BC, smoke+polluted dust AOD) due to COVID-19
lockdown. Specifically, increases of 0.008 mol m–2 in CO and 20% in smoke+polluted dust AOD were observed in the SSA region during COVID-19 lockdown. The majority of emissions resulted from the burning of forest cover (FC), cultivated lands (CL), and shrublands (SL) due to escaped fires from agricultural activities. The BA and fire density were also higher in the COVID-19 year (2020) than the previous year (2019), which was suspected to be caused by the closure of or not fully operated fire authorities due to the COVID-19 lockdown. The increasing biomass burning emissions, as shown here, have important implications for air quality and public health.
... In fact, according to Saharjo and Putra (2017), the large forest fires in Indonesia that occurred in 1997 and 1998 were caused 99% by human actions while the rest were natural factors. Economic losses due to forest and land fires in that year were estimated at US $ 9.3 billion (Sakti 2005) to the US $ 20.1 billion (Varma 2003), and an estimated 35 million people were affected (Suyanto et al. 2004). At the time of the fires in 1997, the national mass media reported that 176 companies were accused of burning forests in clearing land, 133 of which were plantation companies. ...
Forest and land fires have become disasters that have received international attention. Peatland as an important part of the forest poses a separate threat to the effect of carbon release and climate change. Fire prevention can be done by understanding the causes. Fire vulnerability mapping uses several parameters in its calculation, namely NDVI value, NDMI value, TWI value, accessibility distance, and community activity center. Land use and hotspot history will be the parameters compared with the results of the analysis. The calculation uses a range of values from 1 to 5. The risk level class is divided into five, with the highest percentage of 20.18% at the very vulnerable level and the lowest of 19.56% at the normal level. Very vulnerable areas have the highest number of hotspot points at 268 points while the lowest number of hotspot points is in the safe class of 23 points. Most areas with high vulnerability are found in agriculture and plantation areas. The model used in this fire vulnerability map can be said to have a pretty good correlation. Keywords: accessibility distance, forest fires, hotspot, land use, peatland
... Kelompok pertama, menekankan kepada dimensi kemiskinan dan pembangunan sebagai penyebab utama karhutla dan asap. Karhutla telah tercatat di Asia Tenggara sejak abad ke-19, terutama di Indonesia (Eaton & Radojevic, 2001 (Colfer, 2002;Varma, 2003). Ketidaktahuan warga terkait dengan keterbatasan akses informasi dan pendidikan terhadap gambaran destruktif penggunaan api dalam praktik pertanian tradisional. ...
... In most rangelands and forest ecosystems, fires are used to contain the extensive bush encroachment and invasive species [1], and for improving grasslands productivity [2]. Moreover, fire is an affordable clearance mechanism for agricultural expansion in most rural communities, especially in developing countries, where the adoption of machinery is limited due to the high cost and poor living standards [3,4]. In other communities, fires are a fundamental part of culture and heritage. ...
This study analysed the characteristics of the recent (2018-2019) wildfires that occurred in the USA, Brazil, and Australia using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) active fires (AF), fire radiative power (FRP, MW) and burned area (BA) products. Meteorological and environmental parameters were also analysed. The study found various patterns in the spatial distribution of fires, FRP and BA at the three sites, associated with various vegetation compositions, prevailing meteorological and environmental conditions and anthropogenic activities. We found significant fire clusters along the western and eastern coasts of the USA and Australia, respectively, while vastly distributed clusters were found in Brazil. Across all sites, significant fire intensity was recorded over forest cover (FC) and shrublands (SL), attributed to highly combustible tree crown fuel load characterised by leafy canopies and thin branches. In agreement, BA over FC was the highest in the USA and Australia, while Brazil was dominated by the burning of SL, characteristic of fire-tolerant Cerrado. The relatively lower BA over FC in Brazil can be attributed to fuel availability and proximity to highly flammable cover types such as cropland, SL and grasslands rather than fuel flammability. Overall, this study contributes to a better understanding of wildfires in various regions and the underlying environmental and meteorological causal factors, towards better wildfire disaster management strategies and habitat-specific firefighting.
... Kerugian ekonomi akibat kebakaran hutan dan lahan pada tahun 1997-1998 diperkirakan mencapai US$ 9,3 milyar (Bappenas, 2000dikutip Sakti, 2005 sampai dengan US$20,1 milyar (Varma, 2003) dan ADB/ Bappenas ( 1999dalam Suyanto, et al., 2004 memperkirakan 35 juta orang terkena dampaknya. Pada saat terjadi kebakaran hutan tahun 1997 media massa nasional melaporkan ada 176 perusahaan yang dituduh melakukan pembakaran hutan dalam pembukaan lahan, 133 di antaranya adalah perusahaan perkebunan (Down to Earth, 1997). ...
Forest fire is one of the crucial environmental and forestry issues as well as local and global concern. The longstanding efforts have been conducted to overcome this problem, but the success was relatively low. This study aims to determine the factors that affect the extent of forest and peat fires in Indonesia. The analysis of forest fires was carried out on three major islands, i.e. Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua using time series data from 1969 to 2012. The data were analyzed using econometric models. The results indicated that the factors affecting the forest and peat fires included the price of logs, export prices of CPO, el nino, budget of the Ministry of Forestry, the economic crisis and the number of hotspots. The identified determinant which has a major impact on the extent of forest and peat fires is the number of hotspots. Controlling the number of hotspots significantly reduced the magnitude of forest fires. For that reason, there is a need for a paradigm shift in the control of forest fires from forest fire fighting activities into preventive effort by reducing the number or preventing the occurrence of hotspots as an early indication of a forest fire.
Keywords: forest fires, hotspots, prevention
... However, there co-exists an older, but important environmental narrative which has portrayed local actors -communities, and subsistence farmers in general -as the primary agents responsible for clearing forest, largely because of their traditional, extensive farming practices, particularly shifting cultivation, which is often pejoratively known as 'slash and burn' (Brady, 1996;Butler, 1980;Myers, 1992Myers, , 1993Phanthanousy, 1994;Schuck, Nganye, & Yantio, 2002;Varma, 2003). Although this narrative has been strongly criticized for its lack of accuracy (Angelsen, 1995;Brown & Schreckenberg, 1998;Fairhead & Leach, 2000;Ickowitz, 2006;van Vliet, Mertz, Heineman, & Langnake, 2012;Fox, 2000), we will show that it is still present in REDD+ policy discourse, and particularly in national REDD+ policy documents. ...
While mainstream academic literature over the past ten years has tended to identify commercial and industrialized agriculture as the primary driver of deforestation, national plans for REDD+ (as exemplified by proposals to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility for funding) focus strongly on ‘communities’ and local actors. This is partly to ensure that communities are not harmed by the program, and may benefit from it; but the documents show that in most cases they are in fact envisaged as the primary actors in the REDD+ implementation. In concordance with this, most of the national proposals identify small scale local actors as the agents behind deforestation much more often than large scale outside actors. Moreover, most assign more weight to REDD+ activities directed to small scale actors than even their own analysis of drivers would imply, quite apart from global understanding about who is responsible for forest loss. We suggest that this seeming policy inconsistency can be explained through an understanding of problem framing. We show that the ‘communities’ narrative may implicitly rest on earlier, now largely discredited explanations of the causes of deforestation (shifting cultivation and other traditional practices). However this narrative is attractive today from a variety of other positions, and we suggest that it represents a policy case of a solution looking for a problem.
... Several factors were voiced by policy actors as the cause of forest fires in 2019, namely: corporate negligence 4 , land clearing by farmers 5 , longer El Nino duration 6 , peatland damage 7 The logic of causality constructed by the mass media above does not differ greatly from scientific knowledge about forest fires built by scientists. According to the scientists, forest fires in Indonesia can be caused by land clearing practices by small farmers and plantation/forestry corporations [8][9][10] , El Nino and peatland characteristics 11 , weak law enforcement 12 , patronage relations between plantation political and corporate elite 13 . Forest fire causes economic losses, air pollution, destroys biodiversity, deteriorates the quality of public health and has the potential to trigger tension or international cooperation in the Southeast Asian region. ...
This study examines the contribution of crime rate towards the likelihood of forest fires incidence in Sumatra Island, Indonesia. The authors used the 2018 PODES data (Village Potential Census or Sensus Potensi Desa) collected by the Central Bureau of Statistics for three provinces in Sumatra Islands: South Sumatera, Jambi, and Riau. The sample of this study is all villages (6.699 villages) in Riau, Jambi and South Sumatra. This study has ten independent variables: drug, theft, gambling, fraud, rape, violence theft, persecution, murder, corruption, and trafficking. The result of logistic regression analysis using STATA 15 shows that only drug, theft, and rape have a significant relationship with Y (forest fires incidence). The final models of logistic regression can be estimated as much as 2 percent significant, X 2 (3) = 81.63, p < 0.01. The findings suggest that the lack of collective efficacy in Jambi, Riau and South Sumatra could contribute to forest fires incidence. This study recommends to the Government to revise district regulation on forest fires, accommodate conditional burning for small farmers and increasing collective efficacy at the community level.
... On the contrary, the results show that BA for Shrublands is the highest in SON (i.e. total BA of~843,180 km 2 ), followed by DJF (i.e., total BA of~699,533 km 2 ) and JJA (i.e., total BA of~580,472 km 2 ). Burning of woody vegetation covers such as forests and Shrublands is a common traditional land management practice in Africa for satisfying the requirement of land for food production, particularly by smallholder farmers who often do not have equipment and machinery for land clearing [60]. Under favourable conditions (i.e., higher fuel loads supported by low precipitation, humidity, high air temperatures and strong winds), such fires may spread rapidly, extensively destroying other vegetation cover types in their path [56]. ...
Globally, wildfires are considered the most commonly occurring disasters, resulting from natural and anthropogenic ignition sources. Wildfires consist of burning standing biomass at erratic degrees of intensity, severity, and frequency. Consequently, wildfires generate large amounts of smoke and other toxic pollutants that have devastating impacts on ambient air quality and human health. There is, therefore, a need for a comprehensive study that characterizes land–atmosphere interactions with regard to wildfires, critical for understanding the interrelated and multidimensional impacts of wildfires. Current studies have a limited scope and a narrow focus, usually only focusing on one aspect of wildfire impacts, such as air quality without simultaneously considering the impacts on land surface changes and vice versa. In this study, we use several multisource data to determine the spatial distribution, frequency, disturbance characteristics of and variability and distribution of pollutants emitted by wildfires. The specific objectives were to (1) study the sources of wildfires and the period they are prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa over a 9 year period, i.e., 2007–2016, (2) estimate the seasonal disturbance of wildfires on various vegetation types, (3) determine the spatial distribution of black carbon (BC), carbon monoxide (CO) and smoke, and (4) determine the vertical height distribution of smoke. The results show largest burned areas in December–January–February (DJF), June–July–August (JJA) and September–October–November (SON) seasons, and reciprocal high emissions of BC, CO, and smoke, as observed by Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (MERRA-2) and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO). In addition, the results reveal an increasing trend in the magnitude of BC, and CO concentration driven by meteorological conditions such as low precipitation, low relative humidity, and low latent heat flux. Overall, this study demonstrates the value of multisource remotely sensed data in characterising long-term wildfire patterns and associated emissions. The results in this study are critical for informing better regional fire management and air quality control strategies to preserve endangered species and habitats, promote sustainable land management, and reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions.
... Based on Law no 32/2009 on the Protection and Management of the Environment (Perlindungan dan Pengelolaan Lingkungan Hidup), fire control burning is still allowed for land preparation under 2 Ha. However, in order to minimise operation costs, companies were using fire for land preparation (Varma, 2003). The analysis of land cover after the incident (Table 3-2), interestingly to note that if we look at land use category, after fire was occurrence on average 51.78% in mixed field and 41.35% was occure into field area. ...
Remote sensing is composed of many interrelated processes to be able to consider physical objects such as buildings, land, and plants which are objects that can be discussed by applications discussed in various disciplines that discuss geology, forestry, soil science, and geography. The use of GIS and remote sensing for fire monitoring has been widely used. However, this study is the first study conducted in the TNBS area after the Berbak National Park (TNB) in Jambi to join the Sembilang National Park (TNS) in South Sumatra. Hotspot distribution in this study was obtained using Getis-Ord-Gi * statistics, hotspot data collected from 2000-2018 in the TNBS area. The results of the hotspot distribution during the 2000-2018 recorded by MODIS satellites with time acquisition and statistical analysis using Gi* show the results that the hotspots gathered (80% confidence level) outside the TNBS area, which is a mixed fields area. Further studies on causes of fire in terms of socio-economic and cultural needs to be done to get the right advice in reducing the risk of loss of forest cover and diversity in TNBS. Keywords: mitigation, hydrology, DAS
... The "Great Fire of Borneo" in 1982, destroying 3.6 million hectares of forestland, was partially attributed to natural causes like drought and an accidental spark resulting from two branches rubbing together (Jakarta Post 1994) and partially to fires started by smallscale shifting cultivators who use fire as a tool to clear their land in preparation for planting (Dennis 1999). Poverty and ignorance were identified as major factors driving the man-made fires of this time, as poverty left these small-scale farmers no choice but to use the cheapest means possible to prepare their land (fire) and ignorance meant that they were not aware of the larger regional effects of their actions (Colfer 2002: 313-316;Quah and Johnston 2001;Varma 2003). ...
This book investigates the patterns of conflict management in contemporary Southeast Asia. The region has long been characterized by the twin process of state-formation and nation-building, which has been responsible for most of the region’s intrastate and interstate conflicts. While this process is still ongoing, regional conflicts and their management are increasingly affected by globalisation, which not only serves as a new source of, or exacerbating factor to, conflict, but also makes new instruments available for conflict management. Employing the concepts of incompatibility management and mediation regime, the book analyses the management of seven conflicts in the region: the Rohingya crisis and the Kachin conflict in Myanmar, the Khmer Krom conflict in Vietnam, the West Papua conflict in Indonesia, the political conflict in Thailand, the Mekong River conflicts involving five Southeast Asian countries and China and the transboundary haze problem emanating from Indonesia. The efforts to manage each of them are imagined as constituting a mediation regime, and its effectiveness is assessed in terms of good governance. Among the findings of the book is that the measures of manoeuvring around incompatibilities are employed predominantly in managing regional conflicts. In intrastate conflicts, which mostly involve ethnic minorities, the authorities first aim to eliminate, or impose its own position on, ethnic parties. When this strategy proves unsuccessful, they have no choice but manoeuvre around incompatibilities, which may eventually open up a space for mutual learning. In interstate conflicts, the manoeuvring around strategy works in a more straightforward manner, contributing to regional stability. However, the stability is achieved at the cost of local communities and the natural environment, which absorb the incompatibilities in conflict.
... Since ameliorant application will reduce CO 2 emission, therefore this action can be categorized as mitigation action for climate change. Zero burning technology for land preparation is also important in mitigating GHG, since Varma (2003) claims that slash and burn for land clearing and preparation generated forest fires which is a source of CO 2 emission in peatlands. Fortunately, based on the household survey this action was done by most farmers in their farming. ...
Considering the limitations of the highly productive arable land for supporting food security in Indonesia, development and optimization degraded peatlands for agricultural expansion is an option, although this area is one of the primary sources of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. Consequently, specific management strategies should be applied to reduce the emission and to serve future generations. Also, mitigation of climate change in the peatlands agriculture should also be given priority. This paper explores the existing farming action on climate change mitigation, and strategies of degraded peatlands management to mitigate climate change in term of reducing GHG emission. Existing condition of mitigation action by farmers in their farming systems; rice, rubber and oil palm, were reviewed through a farm household survey. Then, development strategies for climate change mitigation through sustainable degraded peatlands management were discussed through Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and in-depth interview with experts from concerned research institutions and universities through morphological analysis. The finding of this research shows that farmer’s existing climate change mitigation actions pertain to land preparation, water management, and soil management in their farming system. Moreover, specific actions and strategies to mitigate climate change in the sustainable degraded peatlands management which were determined based on the most relevant variables under a given future condition consist of constructing canal blocking system, introducing technology for water and soil management, revitalizing agricultural extension institution as well as establishing fire brigade and improving farmer experience and knowledge on climate change.
... Biomass burning during this period released vast amounts of carbon (between 0.81 and 2.57 Gt) into the atmosphere (Page et al., 2002). In addition, these fires caused a host of serious health and environmental problems in the region (Marlier et al., 2013), as well as disrupting economic activity (Varma, 2003;Aiken, 2004). Although the coastal peatlands of Southeast Asia appear to have been less impacted by these climatic events in the past (Dommain et al., 2011), managing for increased fire risk during dry El Niño years [ (Pan et al., 2018) and indeed non-El Niño years, with recent land-use change causing an elevation in burning uncoupled with ENSO (Gaveau et al., 2014)], may help to prevent a recurrence of these disastrous effects in the future (Phua et al., 2007(Phua et al., , 2012. ...
Tropical peat swamp forests are invaluable for their role in storing atmospheric carbon, notably in their unique below-ground reservoirs. Differing from terra firme forests, the peat-forming function of tropical swamps relies on the integrity of discrete hydrological units, in turn intricately linked to the above-ground woody, and herbaceous vegetation. Contemporary changes at a local, e.g., fire, to global level, e.g., climatic change, are impacting the integrity, and functioning of these ecosystems. In order to determine the level of impact and predict their likely future response, it is essential to understand past ecosystem disturbance, and resilience. Here, we explore the impact of burning on tropical peat swamp forests. Fires within degraded tropical peatlands are now commonplace; whilst fires within intact peat swamp forests are thought to be rare events. Yet little is known about their long-term natural fire regime. Using fossil pollen and charcoal data from three peat cores collected from Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, we looked at the incidence and impact of local and regional fire on coastal peat swamp forests over the last 7,000 years. Palaeoecological results demonstrate that burning has occurred in these wetland ecosystems throughout their history, with peaks corresponding to periods of strengthened ENSO. However, prior to the Colonial era c. 1839 when human presence in the coastal swamp forests was relatively minimal, neither local nor regional burning significantly impacted the forest vegetation. After the mid-nineteenth century, at the onset of intensified land-use change, fire incidence elevated significantly within the peatlands. Although fire does not correlate with past vegetation changes, the long-term data reveal that it likely does correlate with the clearance of forest by humans. Our results suggest that human activity may be strongly influencing and acting synergistically with fire in the recent past, leading to the enhanced degradation of these peatland ecosystems. However, intact tropical peat swamp forests can, and did recover from local fire events. These findings support present-day concerns about the increase in fire incidence and combined impacts of fire, human disturbance and El Niño on peat swamp forests, with serious implications for biodiversity, human health and global climate change.
... Isto não é, contudo, o que se lê em estudos acerca do uso do fenômeno na Amazônia brasileira. Comprometimento da capacidade de suporte do solo, emissão, em curtíssimo tempo, de altas quantidades de gases de efeito estufa, degradação florestal em larga escala, destruição de áreas de cultivo, pastagens e outros ativos e doenças pulmonares, são algumas das faces assumidas pela prática (Nepstad et al: 1999, Arima et al: 2007, Mendonça et al: 2004, Varma: 2003, Cochrane: 2008. ...
O fogo é um fenômeno natural – conjunto de reações físico-químicas (Pyne: 1982) – capaz de prestar três serviços fundamentais à agropecuária: (i) eliminação do material lenhoso liberado pelo corte raso da cobertura vegetal, (ii) eliminação do pasto de baixo nível nutricional e/ou entremeado por plantas competidoras e; (iii) combustão da biomassa contida no material lenhoso e nas plantas em que consiste o pasto, a qual é seguida pela deposição das cinzas na superfície do solo (assim corrigindo-se e fertilizando-se o solo). Por que as queimadas continuam a ser predominantes na agropecuária da Amazônia brasileira? Uma hipótese é a de que as alternativas disponíveis exigem, para sua implementação, condições inacessíveis para uma parcela relevante da população de produtores. Esta é a premissa em torno da qual se organiza o presente texto - por hora, nada mais do que a versão preliminar de uma investigação de doutorado em estágio inicial. Objetiva-se interpretar, à luz de conceitos fornecidos por teorias econômicas e institucionais, evidências coletadas em trabalho de campo, realizado no mês de março de 2012, para tal visitou-se uma comunidade de agricultores familiares de pequeno porte, um assentamento, mais precisamente, localizado no sudeste paraense.
... Fire use for forest removal is a common management practice by plantation operators and smallholder farmers [13,57]. For smallholders, fire use is the most cost-efficient way to remove forest and expand agricultural land, where machinery which can reduce the costs of logging operations is not available [57,58]. Fires lit by communities which accidently spread to nearby forest areas are also a potential driver of fires coinciding with forest-cover loss [13]. ...
Fire use for land management is widespread in natural tropical and plantation forests, causing major environmental and economic damage. Recent studies combining active fire alerts with annual forest-cover loss information identified fire-related forest-cover loss areas well, but do not provide detailed understanding on how fires and forest-cover loss are temporally related. Here, we combine Sentinel-1-based, near real-time forest cover information with Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) active fire alerts, and for the first time, characterize the temporal relationship between fires and tropical forest-cover loss at high temporal detail and medium spatial scale. We quantify fire-related forest-cover loss and separate fires that predate, coincide with, and postdate forest-cover loss. For the Province of Riau, Indonesia, dense Sentinel-1 C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar data with guaranteed observations of at least every 12 days allowed for confident and timely forest-cover-loss detection in natural and plantation forest with user's and producer's accuracy above 95%. Forest-cover loss was detected and confirmed within 22 days in natural forest and within 15 days in plantation forest. This difference can primarily be related to different change processes and dynamics in natural and plantation forest. For the period between 1 January 2016 and 30 June 2017, fire-related forest-cover loss accounted for about one third of the natural forest-cover loss, while in plantation forest, less than ten percent of the forest-cover loss was fire-related. We found clear spatial patterns of fires predating, coinciding with, or postdating forest-cover loss. Only the minority of fires in natural and plantation forest temporally coincided with forest-cover loss (13% and 16%) and can thus be confidently attributed as direct cause of forest-cover loss. The majority of the fires predated (64% and 58%) or postdated forest-cover loss (23% and 26%), and should be attributed to other key land management practices. Detailed and timely information on how fires and forest cover loss are temporally related can support tropical forest management, policy development, and law enforcement to reduce unsustainable and illegal fire use in the tropics.
... The uncertainties in these estimates are indicated by another study of the economic costs of the 1997/1998 fires in Indonesia. Varma (2003) looked at welfare losses associated with losses of marketed goods, and losses of environmental goods and services and estimated total losses of 20.1 billion US dollars as a result of use of slash and burn in Indonesia in 1997-1998. This estimate also included the benefits of slash-and-burn practices -which are cheaper than manual land clearing -indicating that use of these techniques is highly inefficient from a socio-economic perspective. ...
... Over the past decades, the Southeast Asian region has suffered from a series of large drought-related wildfires, such as those that occurred in 1982/83, 1997/98, 2009, and most recently the 2015 drought. The droughts have had immense adverse ecological and societal consequences, including smoke/haze pollution, which led to economic losses reaching billions of dollars (Varma 2003;World Bank 2016). Natural processes driven by climate variability determine drought severity (climate-induced), but humans can amplify droughts (human-modified drought), for example, through water abstraction or dams , or extensive land drainage (Van . ...
... The resulting ashes are spread to improve soil fertility and harvest several crops. Exhausted the fertility of the fields, these areas are abandoned although the process can be reproduced again several decades later (Varma, 2003). ...
Agriculture forms an essential part of the mountains of the Mediterranean. For centuries, large areas were cultivated to feed the local population, with highly marginal slopes being tilled at times of heavy demographic pressure, using the shifting agriculture system. A great deal of agricultural land was abandoned during the 20th century, giving rise to secondary succession processes that tend to eliminate the agricultural footprint. However, revegetation is a highly complex process leading to areas with dense, well-structured plant cover, and other open areas of scrubland. This article studies the role of traditional agriculture in the deterioration of the landscape. By using experimental plots in the Central Pyrenees to reproduce traditional agriculture and abandonment, maps of field types, and current uses and ground cover, it could be confirmed that shifting agriculture has caused very heavy soil loss, which explains the deterioration of the landscape on several slopes. Burning scrub and adding the ash to the soil as a fertilizer did not greatly help to improve soil quality, but caused high rates of erosion and a very slow process of regrowth. The average data obtained from the shifting experimental plots recorded losses of 1356 kg ha− 1 years− 1, 1.6 times more than the plot of fertilized cereal, and 8.2 times more than the dense scrub plot. Following abandonment, losses in the shifting agriculture plot were almost three times higher than the abandoned sloping field plot. Traditional shifting agriculture in the Pyrenees is the main cause of the deterioration of the landscape 50–70 years after agriculture ceased.
... In addition, peatland fires are responsible for forest habitat loss and degradation for flora and fauna, including those in marine systems (Jaafar and Loh, 2014;Posa et al., 2011;Yule, 2010). Fire suppression efforts, lost timber and crop resources, missed workdays, and travel disruptions incur high economic costs (Barber and Schweithelm, 2000;Tacconi, 2003;Ruitenbeek, 1999), and it is estimated that Indonesia lost US$20.1 billion during the 1997/98 fire season alone (Varma, 2003). Both national and international policy has been implemented to attempt to reduce fire in Indonesia prior to the 2015 fire season (e.g., ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, Singapore's Transboundary Haze Pollution Act, and Indonesia's national law (Act No 41/1999) banning corporations from using fire to clear land for palm-oil plantations), but with limited success. ...
... Base on Law no 32/2009 on Protection and Management of the Environment (Perlindungan dan Pengelolaan Lingkungan Hidup), fire control burning is still allowed to be used for land preparation under 2 Ha. However, for the reason of minimizing operation cost, companies were using fire for land preparation [15]. This was also happen in Jambi province as presented in Fig. 6, Fig. 7 and Fig. 8. Fig. 6 clearly explain process of forest plantation development from land clearing and road/canal construction that was started in 2002 followed by fire occurrence in 2004. ...
Forest and land fire in Indonesia have been given much attention since it creates environmental problems every year. Instead of its negative impacts, fire cannot be separated from agricultural system in the tropics. Moreover, under the regulation, the farmer is allowed to use fire for land preparation under 2 hectares. However, fire utilization is prohibited for land preparation in concessionaries. In facts, some companies are utilized fire for economics reason even though some of them are refused to admit. Therefore, it is interesting to know on what is really occur in the field related to the fire occurrence. Objectives of the research are to determine distribution of fire occurrence based on historical hot spot data during 15 years period (2001-2015), and analysis land cover as well as land use trajectories before and after fire occurrence in Jambi Province. Result showed, fire tend to occur in peat land every year, either during El Niño or La Niña period. Land covers before fire occurrence mostly were bush and disturbed secondary forest. It was also revealed that fire was also utilized by companies (oil palm and forest plantation). During period of analysis, on average, 20.67% was converted into forest plantation and 27.06% was converted into palm oil plantation, meanwhile the rest areas (52.27%) were community land area.
The occurrence of transboundary haze across several ASEAN countries is considered to be humanitarian crisis, and Malaysia is among the worst affected countries. This kind of man-made disaster should be overcome by providing appropriate solutions in order to prevent continuous calamities toward society regarding safety and health. Moreover, this is in line with the Goal No. 15 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is “Life on Land” that promotes protection and restoration of sustainable terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably managed forests, combatting desertification, and halting and reversing land degradation and biodiversity loss. However, there is a high cost incurred in environmental and humanitarian crisis remedies. Waqf is a financial charitable institution that provides basic human needs and has the potential to control adverse impacts on the environment and on human rights. Thus, the objective of the study is to discuss cash waqf as a tool for the environmental and human protection. This study uses a library research method as well as a case study analysis of the IOI Group company. Hence, as a third sector, cash waqf is able to mitigate humanitarian crises caused by anthropogenic hazards to the environment.
Palm oil is an essential commodity in Indonesia. However, despite the importance of palm oil for Indonesia's economy, on the contrary, this sector could also harm society as palm oil industries have incentives to burn the forest for extensive land clearing, creating forest fire, and air pollution. This study estimates palm oil companies' impact on forest fires, air pollution, health outcomes, and labor market consequences in Indonesia. This study uses data from The Indonesia National Socioeconomic Survey (SUSENAS), Universal Public Insurance Claim Data from Social Security Administrator (BPJS), and Ministry of Forestry and Environment Statistics. In addition, this study also uses municipality-level data to calculate forest fire and individual-level data to estimate health and labor outcomes. Finally, this study employs ordinary least squares (OLS) and matching methods to assess palm oil company's impact on forest fire, health, and labor outcomes. Estimation result suggests palm oil company significantly increases forest fire land area. Further, it also increases the probability of asthma, increases the likelihood of inpatient, and substantially decreases decision to work—more considerable negative health impact for children and elderly, more vulnerable group to forest fire pollution. Moreover, forest fire increases inpatient for the asthmatic individual and all other individuals who experience general respiratory symptoms.
Melalui esai ini, saya akan mencoba untuk melihat lebih jauh hubungan antara bencana dengan kemunduran demokrasi di Indonesia, dengan menggunakan kasus banjir dan asap-kebakaran hutan sebagai contoh kasus. Saya berargumen bahwa bencana bisa dijadikan sebagai bukti kemerosotan kualitas demokrasi yang paling nyata. Hal ini karena bencana seperti banjir dan asap adalah konsekuensi dari rusaknya tata ruang karena kuatnya praktik klientelisme dan lemahnya kontrol publik. Oleh karena itu, saya mengasumsikan bahwa jika kualitas demokrasi semakin tinggi maka aktivitas “anthropogenic” akan semakin terkontrol, sehingga frekuensi bencana seperti banjir dan asap bisa berkurang.
Forest and land fires have been occurring in Indonesia since the 1970s, but within the last two decades the intensity of these fires and their effects on neighbouring countries has elicited high media attention and new political engagement. As a direct consequence, the Indonesian government has taken stern measures by prohibiting farmers from burning land and forests as part of their agricultural practices. Through the case of Indonesian Borneo, the paper explores how the haze crisis reinitiates old discourses of ‘backward' and ‘destructive’ agriculture and invigorates policies of agricultural modernisation and privatisation at the expense of traditional agrarian practices.
Forest fires are one of the natural disasters in Indonesia that cause deforestation and various losses in ecological, economic and social aspects. Forest and land fire prevention can be done by providing data and information about the forest-fire prone areas. Land cover that tends to change rapidly has made the forest-fire frone map, which is evaluated every three years, is no longer accurate. This problem can be overcome by utilizing hotspot data provided in real time by the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (LAPAN). Previous research has succeeded in mapping forest fire-prone areas using the Density Based Clustering Application with Noise (DBSCAN) algorithm on hotspot data. In this study, the Locally Scaled Density Based Clustering (LSDBC) algorithm was used for hotspot data as an improvement and comparison to the DBSCAN algorithm. This research has succeeded in mapping forest-fire prone areas using the DBSCAN and LSDBC algorithms. However, the LSDBC algorithm has not been able to produce better clusters than the DBSCAN algorithm.
Across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), biomass burning for land clearance, grazing management, and eradication of invasive plant species emit various pollutants into the atmosphere and thus affect air quality, human health, and microclimates. The seasonality of fire events generally follows that of rainfall. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Africa in February 2020, several countries have implemented lockdown regulations that restrict mobility, trade, and other socio-economic activities. It is not clear how the lockdown restrictions would affect wildfire spread, density, and emissions. This study sought to address this gap by analysing changes in Black Carbon (BC), smoke+polluted dust AOD, and Carbon monoxide (CO), as well as the burned area (BA) and fire density using multi-source data at periods consistent with lockdown restrictions. Generally, the results indicated an increase in emissions (CO, BC, smoke+polluted dust AOD) due to COVID-19 lockdown. Specifically, increases of 0.008 mol/m2 in CO and 20% in smoke+polluted dust AOD were observed in the SSA region during COVID-19 lockdown. The majority of emissions resulted from the burning of forest cover (FC), cultivated lands (CL), and shrublands (SL) due to escaped fires and agricultural activities. The BA and fire density were also higher in the COVID-19 year (2020) than the previous year (2019), which was suspected to be caused by the closure of or not fully operated fire authorities due to the COVID-19 lockdown. The increasing biomass burning emissions, as shown here, have important implications for air quality and public health.
Fires and haze, originating mostly from Indonesia, have caused widespread air pollution across Southeast Asia, especially in Singapore and Malaysia. The region has been suffering from this transboundary pollution in varying intensities for more than three decades, and this has given rise to a conflicting situation between the haze-exporting state of Indonesia and the states that import haze. However, this has never grown into a full-blown interstate legal or political dispute situation. The reason why this interstate regional conflict has never escalated to a dispute is worth investigating. This chapter first contextualizes the fires and haze in Indonesia in the context of the globalization of the agribusiness sector, particularly palm oil. It then goes on to define the incompatibilities that exist between the different actors at the national and international level with regard to transboundary haze. This is followed by an investigation into how ideas of globalization and the ASEAN organization have been useful in managing these incompatibilities. The chapter then discusses how poor governance has nevertheless limited effective incompatibility management and has led to a potential legal dispute between Indonesia and Singapore. It concludes by highlighting ways in which good governance at both the national and regional level can play an important role in preventing this potential dispute from further escalation. A common theme throughout this chapter is the prevalence of patron-client relationships within the countries being discussed, which are useful in explaining national interests, incompatibilities and poor governance in the context of the haze.
Diplomasi Lingkungan Indonesia membahas masalah-masalah lingkungan hidup di Indonesia dalam kepemimpinan Suharto dan Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Buku ini menggunakan perspektif Environmental Studies of English School.
Recurring wildfire in 2015 became the climax of critical incident in Indonesia for the last 20 years. Wildfire impact touched many aspects of life, especially health impacts. Wildfire haze exposure caused various health problems. Acute respiratory tract infections (ARI) ranked first disease suffered by the haze affected communities (83, 92%). ARI is an acute respiratory tract infection that occurs in the throat, nose and lungs for approximately 14 days. ARI morbidity reached the highest escalation in Riau up to 600% on October 2015. The government's policy has been quite effective in managing wildfire but not effective yet as prevention. State interests, market needs and community health were considered contradictory. As a result, policies formulation between governmental periods has been counterproductive, yet gives significant result and unsustainable. Government needs to involve stakeholders from the public and NGOs to maintain policies sustainability in order to resolve the wildfire and to prevent increased ARI morbidity.
Keywords: wildfire, acute respiratory tract infection, wildfire policy
Air pollution due to anthropological activities and natural disasters are the major challenges for environmental issues for last few decades. Human activities and population growth aggregate the atmospheric composition and damaged Earth’s atmosphere. Southeast Asia (SEA) is facing with natural disasters such as flood and tsunami that are challenging international attempts to address these issues for climate change. Transboundary haze is one of the significant environmental issues in SEA since 1983. The transboundary haze pollution has adverse impacts on environment due to greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions as well as ecosystem and biodiversity which caused climate changes in recent decades.
The services of ecological systems and the natural capital stocksthat produce them are critical to the functioning of the
Earth’s life-support system. They contribute to human welfare, both directly and indirectly, and therefore represent
part of the total economic value of the planet.We have estimated the current economic value of 17 ecosystem services
for 16 biomes, based on published studies and a few original calculations. For the entire biosphere, the value (most of
which is outside the market) is estimated to be in the range of US$16–54 trillion (1012) per year, with an average of
US$33trillion per year. Because of the nature of the uncertainties, thismust be considered a minimum estimate. Global
gross national product total is around US$18 trillion per year.
The services of ecological systems and the natural capital stocks that produce them are critical to the functioning of the Earth's life-support system. They contribute to human welfare, both directly and indirectly, and therefore represent part of the total economic value of the planet. We have estimated the current economic value of 17 ecosystem services for 18 biomes, based on published studies and a few original calculations. For the entire biosphere, the value (most of which in outside the market) in estimated to be in the range of US$16-54 trillion (1012) per year, with in average of US$33 trillion per year. Because of the nature of the uncertainties, thin must be considered a minimum estimate. Global gross national product total is around US$18 trillion per year.
For decades, international lenders, agencies, and foundations as well as national and local governments have spent millions of dollars trying to modernize the traditional practices of farmers in many mountainous areas of Southeast Asia-an agenda driven by the belief that their age-old shifting cultivation practices (known pejoratively as slash and burn ) are deforesting Asia. But a new look at how forests fare under shifting cultivation (as opposed to under permanent agriculture) clearly demonstrates that efforts to eliminate the ancient practice have actually contributed to deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and reduction in carbon storage. In fact, shifting cultivation, rather than being the hobgoblin of tropical forest conservation, may be ecologically appropriate, culturally suitable, and under certain circumstances the best means for preserving biodiversity in the region. The real threat to these tropical forests is posed by the steady advance of large-scale permanent and commercial agriculture.
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