Trust urging public to help chart wildfires
Trust urging public to help chart wildfires
19 April 2016
published by www.independent.ie
Ireland– Campaigners are charting wildfires this year over fears they threaten to wipe out entire wildlife species.
National conservation charity the Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) says it is setting up a database of countryside blazes because no official figures exist.
Padraic Fogarty, campaign officer with the organisation, is urging people to get in contact if they spot a fire.
“Last year seemed like a particularly bad year for wildfires with many of our upland areas and national parks badly damaged,” he said.
“However we don’t have the figures to say how bad it really was.”
The IWT says illegal wildfires around the country are driving some wildlife species to extinction.
They are particularly concerned at outbreaks during the bird nesting season, which they say destroy local wildlife habitats as well as causing air and water pollution.
“This year, so far, there seem to have been fewer, perhaps due to the weather,” said Mr Fogarty.
“Collecting data on where and when fires are occurring will help us to monitor the impact of fires into the future.”
The IWT is urging people who spot wildfires to send in details of where and when they are happening by email to irishwildlife@iwt.ie along with any photos or videos.
The records will be used to monitor the extent and duration of fires and allow the conservationists to analyse their impact.
Separately, more than 17,000 people have already signed a petition calling on the Government to bin legislation extending the period of time in which vegetation can be cut and burned by farmers and landowners.
Farming organisations want the hedge-cutting and upland burning season extended to allow for greater flexibility.
But the IWT, along with Birdwatch Ireland, An Taisce and the Hedge Laying Association of Ireland, says extending the season will have a serious impact on wildlife species and habitats.”We are overloaded. Only 10 investigators are working on the 26 cases,” he told The Straits Times, adding that only five cases had reached an advanced, cross-examination stage.
His ministry has filed a request to the Law and Human Rights Ministry to boost the number of investigators. He said he needed more officials with an environment case investigator licence.
“We can work at full speed only after then,” Mr Shaifuddin said.
The criminal investigations are in addition to the administrative sanctions the Environment and Forestry Ministry imposed on companies late last year. Some had their business licences revoked, others suspended.
Concurrently, Indonesian police are also investigating companies and individuals that used illegal slash-and-burn techniques to clear land during last year’s haze season. None of these had reached the Attorney-General’s office.
Under Indonesian law, any criminal investigation dossier drawn up by an authorised body – including the police and the Environment and Forestry Ministry – must be submitted to the Attorney-General before trials begin.
When asked by The Straits Times at a recent doorstop for an update on prosecutions of companies accused of illegal land clearing, Attorney-General Muhammad Prasetyo said: “I haven’t been updated of any progress on this.”
– See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/forest-fires-five-cases-going-indonesian-g#sthash.JzJHpade.dpufIndonesia’s Environment and Forestry Ministry will submit five cases of land and forest fires to the Attorney-General’s office by the end of the month, a ministry official told The Straits Times last Friday.
The cases are among 26 that are under investigation.
Mr Shaifuddin Akbar, a sub- director at the ministry who is in charge of coordinating the investigations, declined to name the culprits but said the cases involved illegal fires in Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra and Central Kalimantan provinces during last year’s transboundary haze crisis.
The ministry is pressing criminal charges against errant companies and smallholders accused of clearing land by burning, which in turn triggered uncontrolled fires between August and November last year. These offences carry a maximum sentence of 10 years and a maximum fine of 10 billion rupiah (S$1 million).
The Attorney-General’s office will write up indictments based on the criminal investigation dossier from the ministry, and table them in the district courts.
Mr Shaifuddin said the criminal cases had been slow due to an inadequate number of personnel.
– See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/forest-fires-five-cases-going-indonesian-g#sthash.JzJHpade.dpuf
