Forest Fires of Indonesia: State Responsibility and International Liability

• Published in: The International and comparative law quarterly Vol. 48; no. 4; pp. 826 - 855
• Main Author: Tan, Alan Khee-Jin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01-10-1999; British Institute of International and Comparative Law
• Subjects: Due diligence; Environmental legislation; Fire; Fire damage; Forest fire management; Forest fires; Forests; Indonesia; International law; Jurisdiction; Land clearing; Liability; Plantations; State responsibility; Territories
• ISSN: 0020-5893; 1471-6895
• DOI: 10.1017/S0020589300063703

During the last few months of 1997, vast areas of South-east Asia were choked by air pollution caused by smoke arising from massive forest fires in Indonesia. Thick smoke blanketed not only Indonesian territory, but significant transboundary pollution was also caused to several neighbouring States, primarily Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore.1 The problem was caused largely by the indiscriminate use of fire in the clearing of land by large-scale plantation owners and timber concessionaires on Indonesian territory. Land-clearing by government-sponsored transmigration programmes also involved significant burning. To lesser extents, small-scale “slash-and-burn” agricultural practices were implicated as well.2 The problem was exacerbated by the onset of severe droughts associated with the El Nino climatic phenomenon and the presence of combustible peat bogs in several parts of the sprawling Indonesian archipelago.