CAUSES OF FOREST FIRES IN INDONESIA

Many land clearing by burning is the leading cause of forest and land fires. But not only that the cause of the fire, there are many other factors that make land and forest to burn. The cause of the fire can be intentional or unintentional. Enormous human role in managing the natural environment that creates the cause of forest fires.

One of the things that is often blamed for prolonged droughts due to the impact of El Nino so that the land becomes dry. Natural dry conditions facilitate the expansion of forest fire very quickly.

The opening of the road through the forest made by the government and private entrepreneurs towards facilitating access to parts of the forest that was once difficult to reach. Easy access to the forest gives a fresh breeze to the forest encroachers open up new land for farming and gardening. The traditional way of clearing land by burning finally done by these people.

Deforestation for the purpose of industrial wood timber or by reason of the opening of plantations by large capital entrepreneurs, both legal and illegal. Logging followed also by the community to meet immediate economic needs.

Utilization and conversion of land that was once tropical rainforest humid, reduced humidity. Ability to store rainwater that falls seep into the soil is also reduced due to the low levels of tree density. If the felled trees on peat forest, sunlight can enter directly into the forest floor. The more extensive the larger cutting area hiatus created. Peatland from drying out and is the fuel that sparked forest fires and land. Forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan are the areas that are burned each year.

Rapid increase in the number of people making the finding and opening new lands settlement. Target is a forest that has not been inhabited by people. The rivalry between the settlers and the natives sometimes cause social jealousy. The success of the efforts of migrant communities in the process of land to make the natives feel unrivaled. The actions of other people's land burning may occur due to a sense of dissatisfaction.

Those are some of the causes of land and forest fires in Indonesia. Preventive efforts need to be done rather than the actions of forest fire extinguish itself at a cost and greater losses. Control measures requires the intervention of all parties to get involved in addressing the causes of forest and land fires.

PROTECTING ENDANGERED SPECIES

Laws and conservation programs are helping to reduce endangerment worldwide. In the United States, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 protects endangered and threatened wildlife and plants from hunting, collecting, and other activities that harm them or their habitats. Since this law was enacted, the numbers of certain endangered animals, such as the alligator, bald eagle, and peregrine falcon, have increased so much that they have been removed from the endangered list or reclassified from endangered to threatened status.

Many wild species are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This treaty, drawn up in 1973, aims to control trade in wild animals and plants, their parts, and products derived from them. Over 150 countries have joined the treaty. CITES bans trade in rhinoceros horn, cheetah fur, sea turtle shells and meat, and certain whale products. Elephant ivory was banned in 1989, but a 1997 decision enabled the African nations of Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe to export a limited amount of stockpiled ivory to Japan. The ivory from these three nations was auctioned to Japanese buyers in 1999.

Various organizations publish lists of endangered species to improve public awareness. The IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) compiles lists that include thousands of animal and plant species that are threatened or endangered.

Protecting habitat is the key method of preserving endangered species. Many governments and organizations have set aside nature preserves. Some zoos and animal research centers conduct programs that breed endangered species in hopes of returning their offspring to the wild. The programs have greatly improved the outlook for such endangered species as the black-footed ferret and the California condor.

DEFINITION OF FOREST LANDSCAPE

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Definition of forest landscape is the large-scale view of a forest. When industrial timber managers use the term “forest landscapes,” they are usually concerned with scenery and visual impacts. In the context of an ecosystem-based approach, however, a forest landscape is a mosaic of interconnected, interdependent stands or patches that are repeated in a pattern across the larger landscape. This pattern has both spatial and temporal components.

An ecosystem-based approach requires that all planning and activities begin at the regional/landscape level. When planning for human use, landscape level decisions are made for watersheds of small to moderate size (less than 5,000 hectares to about 50,000 hectares, or 12,000 to 125,000 acres). In sub-regional or regional planning processes, forest landscape level considerations are expanded to large watersheds encompassing hundreds of thousands of hectares/acres.

In planning and carrying out forest uses, particularly timber management, many people tend to focus on small forest parcels. This is a result of our limited spatial view, short time frames, and cultural conditioning. In contrast, an ecosystem-based approach requires that all planning and activities start at the landscape level. The character and condition of the forest landscape dictate what is ecologically possible at the stand level.

The character of a forest ecosystem refers to how a forest works, from the landscape level to the stand or patch. For example, forests that have frequent fires have a different character than forests where wind and root decay are the primary agents of disturbance. Some forests are characterized by steep slopes, shallow soils, and well-defined drainage patterns, while other forests have gentle slopes, cold soils, and diffuse drainage patterns.

Forests of a different character will have different composition and structures, and therefore differences in how they function. Different composition, structures, and functioning lead to different kinds of ecological limits to human use. Ecological limits are natural factors or processes that are easily damaged or degraded if modified by human uses. For example, steep and/or wet slopes impose ecological limits because, if disturbed, they are likely to erode, causing problems like soil loss and siltation of streams. Cold soils are an ecological limit because nutrient cycling occurs in shallow organic layers which may be easily damaged by many types of human activities.

The condition of a forest describes how human uses have modified forest functioning from the landscape level to the stand or patch level. Conventional timber management frequently results in negative impacts, like fragmentation, loss of old growth, and soil degradation. An ecosystem-based approach protects forest composition and structure and respects the ecological limits of forests to various human uses. By respecting ecological limits ecosystem-based approaches avoid degradation of short- and long-term forest functioning.
Ecological limits to human use are determined by describing and interpreting the character and condition of, first, the forest landscape, and then the forest stand or patch.

FOREST PROTECTION STRATEGY

Several forest protection strategies that can be used to achieve sustainable forest management are:

1. understand the interaction with the agent of forest destruction so that:
   • can identify the factors that cause problems in forest protection
   • can identify the cause of primary damage
2. can analyze and make decisions as a whole and not just limited to the most serious causes of damage
3. always seen as a forest protection measures are not separate from silvicultural
4. aware that forest protection is increasingly important and the approach is not limited to field crops but excluding forest products.

Protection strategies in addition to ensuring the sustainability of forest management can also ensure a low risk of forest management.