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Greenpeace starts Riau fire-spotting
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 10/20/2007 4:03 PM
JAKARTA: Greenpeace on Friday launched fire-spotting activities using a powered paraglider from the Forest Defenders Camp in Kuala Cenaku village, Riau province.
The camp will use the reconnaissance flights to gather accurate and timely information, which will be provided to local fire-fighting authorities in an effort to fight forest fires, Greenpeace said in a media statement.
The camp was set up to conduct activities and research over the coming months to help focus the world's attention on the loss of biodiversity, the urgency of ending deforestation and climate change issues ahead of the climate change summit scheduled to be held in Bali from Dec. 3 to 14.
Greenpeace said the deforestation rate in Riau had reached approximately 160,000 hectares per year, with the figure peaking to 200,000 hectares between 2004 and 2005. The province's total forest area dropped significantly to 2.7 million hectares in 2004 from 6.4 million hectares in 1982. -- JP
