WRITTEN QUESTION E-3538/97 by Wilfried Telkämper (V) to the Commission (12 November 1997)

Subject: Forest fires in South-East Asia and their effect on indigenous peoples

The recent fire catastrophe in Indonesia and Malaysia resulted in considerable environmental damage and significant health and other problems for the local population.

Does the Commission have any information on how many people have been affected by the haze as well as by the actual fires, which indigenous areas were affected, if indigenous settlements burnt down, if people were actually dying in the fires and if survivors possibly need humanitarian aid?

Does the Commission furthermore have information on the amount of primary forest and plantation forest which burnt down, on the plans for reforestation and on implications for the land rights of indigenous peoples?

Is the Commission of the opinion that the recent events involving large scale forest fires and their impacts on local communities are in compliance with the provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the principles of Agenda 21?

Answer given by Mr Marin on behalf of the Commission (19 December 1997)

The Commission has no independent source of information for assessing the number of people affected by the haze or by fires. Estimates of the numbers involved are being produced by the national authorities and by the United Nations disaster assessment committee (UNDAC) which is now working in Indonesia. There is no indication, at this stage, that these estimates are other than the most general guesses. The available information is being analysed by the European fire response group (EUFREG) and will be presented in the final report of the group on phase II of its assignment, which should become available by the end of this year. The Commission will send this information to the Honourable Member.

As regards the indigenous areas that might have been affected by the fires, the preliminary results of the remote sensing analysis indicates that the majority of fires are near areas of human settlement and are associated with land clearance operations either by companies or by individual farmers. Very little undisturbed forest has been burnt. It is likely, therefore, that very few indigenous settlements have been affected by the emergency. Certainly there have been no reports of fatalities in indigenous communities caused by the fires. On the other hand, there are starting to be reports of deaths due to drought-related causes, particularly in Irian Jaya which has been relatively unaffected by land and forest fires.

On 7 November the Commission decided to allocate ECU 200 000 as aid for those affected by drought and fires in Indonesia. The aim is to supply drinking water to 228 000 people in Java; the decision will be implemented by Médecins sans Frontières (Belgium).

The Commission has at present no reliable estimates of the areas of different land classifications which have been burnt during the present fire episode. The EUFREG remote sensing analysis has looked at burn scars for a very limited area of south Sumatra, and Kalimantan. As a result of this survey, it will be possible to make more reliable estimates of the areas of different land types that have been destroyed. The Parliament will be informed.

The Convention on Biological Diversity, and Articles 1, 6, 10 and 14 in particular, requires the parties to take, as the case may require, general measures for the sustainable use of biological diversity and the reduction of harmful effects on biodiversity. The conference of parties has, furthermore, decided on a work programme relating to biodiversity and forests. While it is clear that forest fires and the inadequacy of sustainable development methods may be linked, it is not possible for obligations under the Convention - in view of their general nature - to be invoked except to increase the extent of implementation and foster practical action in the future.

From 1992 the Commission has contributed with ECU 107 million to improve the situation of forests and biodiversity in Indonesia. The Commission is sending direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's Secretariat the requested overview of Community-funded projects in Indonesia.