OnIslam.net

CAIRO – In a bid to preserve its natural wealth, Indonesia will recruit 5,000 Muslim imams to help its campaign against the destruction and burning of the country’s forests, The Jakarta Post reported.

“Our forests don’t go up in flames on their own, but are intentionally burned because there is this tradition of burning the land after harvest and before planting, which has now also affected forest areas,” Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said Sunday in Yogyakarta.

He said the government will enlist 5000 preachers from a number of Muslim organizations to help enforce its campaign to halt forest destruction.

After receiving relevant training, the program is set to start later this year and will run through 2012.

Participating preachers will be paid about Rp 2 million (US$234) per month.

The minister called on Muslim scholars to support the campaign against forest burning, as well as to promote forest preservation and reforestation efforts.

Ecological Imams

This is not the first ecological mission to be spearheaded by Indonesia scholars.

Last January, Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) have formed Dignifying Environment Institution to help the government tackle ecological issues such as deforestation, wildlife trade, pollution and overfishing.

The new body was tasked with encouraging people to abide by government laws on environment protection.

Indonesia is the largest forest nation in South-eastern Asia with 120 million hectares of rainforest.

Forest fires have long been an annual event in Indonesia during the dry season, and have several times shifted haze pollution to neighboring countries, such as Singapore and Malaysia.

Data shows that Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, is also facing over-exploitation of marine resources in which destructive fishing and blast corral reefs has degraded not only the ecosystem, but also affected the vast number of marine species that depend on them.

Environmental issues in Indonesia are associated with the country’s high population and rapid industrialization, in which deforestation and illegal logging have made Indonesia the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that Indonesia, from 2000 to 2005, lost a massive 1.87 million hectares of forest every year.

According to forest ministry data, about 3.25 million hectares of mangrove forest has been in critical condition in Indonesia out of 7.76 million hectares.