47
INDOFOOD AGRI RESOURCES LTD
SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2014
FIRE AND HAZE
PREVENTION
Forests are routinely cleared by local farmers using the
traditional method of open burning during the dry season. This
practice is still prevalent in many rural parts of Southeast Asia,
including Indonesia, according to the Washington Post (2009).
As more land is cleared for commercial agricultural production,
collective burning of large forested areas, often illegally,
has resulted in severe air pollution. The haze has drastically
affected the air quality of the local communities, as well as
neighbouring cities and countries as the southwest monsoon
winds spread the ashes and pollutants far and wide.
ZERO OPEN BURNING POLICY
IndoAgri strictly prohibits open burning for land clearance in
its sustainability policy, this has been practised for many years
and was formalised in policies in Lonsum and SIMP since
2007 and 2011 respectively. Land clearance is performed by
heavy machines and in accordance with local regulations.
We do not endorse slash either burn practices amongst all our
smallholders and suppliers. Thiswill be effectively enforced through
the RSPO certification of the plasma plots, as well as IndoAgri’s
Palm Oil Sourcing Policy and Responsible Supplier Guidelines for
its CPO suppliers, who are audited against our guidelines.
In the estates, we have put in place fire prevention measures
and fire response teams to handle any fire outbreak. Additional
steps were taken in 2014 to protect the plantations from
encroaching fires near the perimeters of our estates.
FIRE SAFETY AND PREVENTION
The Group has always practised fire safety and prevention
as part of the safety management on the estates. Some of
the proactive fire prevention activities carried out on the
plantations are as follows:
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safety team, who patrols the estate during the dry seasons
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and the Ministry of Forestry
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on each estate
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estates
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reported immediately to the management team
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local communities on fire safety, and updates on weather
patterns and fire hotspots
HAZE PREVENTION
In 2014, Singapore has passed the Transboundary Haze
Pollution Act. Under this new law, it would be an offence if a
Singapore
-
registered company were found to have contributed
to the haze when the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) in any
part of Singapore hits above 101 for more than 24 hours.
IndoAgri fully supports the new regulation and has stepped up
its fire safety management system to include the immediate
areas beyond the perimeters of the estates. A dual
-
ringed fire
monitoring mechanism (see box) was implemented in all our
estates in 2014 to quickly alert the estate team and the local
authority of fires.
INDOAGRI’S FIRE RINGS
It is not a fire bell but works just like one. We have
designated two fire emergency zones, or rings, around
each estate. The inner ring is 100 metres from the
plantation border, and the outer ring is 500 metres from
our perimeter.
When a fire is spotted near or within the outer ring, the
fire safety team will immediately report the incident
to the local authority and fire department, and render
assistance to put out the fire. If a fire occurs within the
inner ring, the fire safety team will act first to put it out so
as to prevent the fire from spreading into the plantation,
while the incident is being reported to the local authority.
During a dry spell, the fire safety teams will take extra
precaution by patrolling the inner rings and conducting
daily site inspection of fire
-
prone areas. IndoAgri also
identifies the hot spots around the plantations from the
daily satellite feedpublishedby the SingaporeGovernment.
The information is disseminated to the estates so that
greater attention can be put on these hot spots as well as
other fire
-
prone areas known to the estates.
Fire prevention training conducted together with Riau Local Government Agency.
