Answer part 2

(B) Answers

Deforestation occurring in tropical rainforest has detrimental effect on the environment and human lives.

For example,the loss of tree cover to intercept the rain and roots to hold on to the soil led to the increase surface runoff and increased soil erosion. The increased in volume of water and river load has caused the river bed to rise and flooding occurs more frequently. In East Kalimantan, severe floods occurred in 2001 near the Taman National Forest which was affected by logging activities.

Deforestation has also led to problems of haze as in Kalimantan, the practice of clearing forested land by burning is a tradition that farmers refused to forgo. The haze was so bad that everyday activities are affected. In 2002, schools were closed when the PSI level reached a very high index of 1500!

The Kalimantan government has made several attempts to manage deforestation in its forest.

One way is through conservation of forests. This method protects the designated forested area from being logged or to carry out any activities that would destroy forest environment through the introduction of laws and regulations. For example, in Kalimantan, the government set up the Betung Kerihun Natural Reserve in 1992 to protect the area from logging.

However, this method is not as effective as logging activities are still detected within natural reserves in Kalimantan. Illegal loggings is difficult to monitor in the region due to the vastness of the Kalimantan forest which is not easily accessible and the lack of manpower to monitor the illegal logging activities.

Another attempt to manage the problem of deforestation was controlling forest fires. The government introduced several measures such as introduction of laws, campaigns and measures to monitor forest fires. For example, the Integrated Forest Fires Protection System was introduced in 1994 and the National Fire Management Plan was introduced in 1999.

The campaigns has helped the locals to realise the harm they are doing to the environment and also allow the government to track the spread of fire.

However, haze problem continue to persist in Indonesia as the local people are reluctant to stop burning forest as it is the traditional method of clearing land for agriculture. With the vastness of the forested area, it is difficult for the government to apprehend culprits.

Thus, deforestation problems in Kalimantan still persist. The measures had to some extend managed to slow down the effects but they are not as effective as deforestation rates in the area is still on the rise.