Last & Final Comment To members of the Forest List, > CIFOR POSITION ON FIRES IN INDONESIA > > The Center for International Forestry Research is deeply concerned at the > extent and severity of fires in forested areas of Indonesia, especially > Sumatra and Kalimantan, in the latter part of the 1997 dry season. We > believe these fires are a symptom of deficiencies in forest management > systems and in policies and regulations on the clearance of forest land for > agriculture. > > We are concerned that media reports have under-estimated the extent to which > much of the burning is deliberate and is motivated by the desire of people > to take advantage of the exceptionally dry conditions to clear land for > agricultural uses --both large scale and small. We are seeing a scramble for > land at the forest frontier. I wish to thank CIFOR for the abovementioned. Likewise, I'm sure my fellow-countrymen feel the same way. However, I wish to add that I will no longer be contributing to this list as I will be terminating my membership as per expiry. I wish to thank all those who have been most supportive over the last few years. This is my last message to this list. The events over the last few weeks convinced me finally that folks from the developing countries or Third World do not belong here, and, are not welcomed here. Therefore, we will be setting up a new mailing for those into tropical timber and tropical forestry. We will have 4 languages here - Dutch, English, French and Spanish, as these are some of the major languages spoken in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Information pertaining to this will be posted on our homepage. Thank you all and God bless. Nelson Wong MTC
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