Indonesia will keep up cloudseeding for at least another week in a bid to douse fires that have left neighbouring countries smothered in a haze in recent months, an official said Monday. Rains from the cloudseeding have extinguished some raging ground and forest fires on the Indonesian part of Borneo island in the past week but blazes on Sumatra have been multiplying.
Sunarno, the head of the West Kalimantan forest protection office on Borneo island, said that artificial rain-making would be extended for another eight days from Monday.
Fires in West Kalimantan have been a main source of a thick haze which has blanketed parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand in an annual phenomenon caused by the clearing of land for crops.
"In Ketapang district, which is where a lot of the fires are, rains have only fallen from Ketapang town to the north, while in the southern parts, fires continue to rage," Sunarno told AFP.
The latest satellite images released by the forestry ministry showed that on Sunday some 635 fires were spread across Indonesia's four Borneo provinces.
On Sumatra island fires have surged after a brief lull last week, satellite images showed, with a total of 1,316 hot spots detected Sunday.
Indonesia's neighbours have urged Jakarta to prevent the forest clearing burn-offs, warning that it is hurting business and putting off tourists.
A forestry ministry official reportedly said last month that fires in the past month had damaged about eight million hectares across Indonesia.
Source: Agence France-Presse
