§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what help and assistance she is giving to the Government of Indonesia to contain and extinguish forest fires. [38978]
§ Clare ShortWe have provided, through the United Nations, the services of a fire-fighting and logistics expert for a 2 month period. In addition officials from my Department will be participating in a United Nations meeting on 20 and 21 April which will examine the most effective methods to deal with the fires and will also discuss possible joint efforts of the international community to assist—including the European Union and United Nations agencies. For the longer term it is important that the Government of Indonesia tackles the underlying causes of these fires: we are supporting work on appropriate forest policy and regulation through practical field experience.