Every year, large
parts of Southeast Asia are blanketed by a thick dirty smog, unlovingly
referred to as the haze. Residents choke, asthmatics remain indoors, children
are barred from playing outside and the authorities seem to think it’s a kind
of price the people must pay for progress.
Of
course, their arguments are nonsense. But the haze is back, so be prepared for
the regular excuses trotted out to justify the slash and burn techniques used
by Indonesian farmers that cause the thick smog, or why Singapore, Kuala Lumpur
and Jakarta are incapable of finding a solution.
This
is despite laws being passed to ban burning off practices.
Excuses
will range from cultural rights that justify traditional farming techniques to
that old chestnut where members of the Association of South East Asian Nations
(ASEAN) decide to do nothing if any course of action risks being interpreted as
dabbling in a neighbor’s affairs.
At
the end of the day, the haze will continue because authorities won’t enforce
the laws.
The
haze has already reached unhealthy levels over parts of Malaysia, and the
season has only just begun with the annual monsoon, typically lasting from May
till September. The National Environment Agency in Singapore is warning the
smog will intensify over the island-state if the winds change direction.
Satellite
photos have showed about 600 hotspots over Sumatra, while Malaysia has banned
burning off in several states and imposed stiff penalties for offenders, with
exceptions made for spiritual practices in religious and funeral rites.
Previous
attempts at dousing the fires have included controlled burning, spraying and
trench construction. None worked. The most innovative was cloud seeding from an
aircraft, which proved about as effective as a Native American rain dance.
In
fact, the biggest success in combating last year’s haze was an exchange of
letters expressing concern between governments.
The
rights of humans to breath fresh air aside, the haze takes an enormous toll on
wildlife, including orangutans, elephants and tigers. The Asian Development
Bank has found that financial losses caused by the big smoke are enormous, and
measures them in billions of dollars.
Individual
peat fires alone can burn for months, and continue burning underground even
after the surface is extinguished by heavy rains. Southeast Asia is full of it
– 24 million hectares of peat and 70 percent of that is in Indonesia.
ASEAN
adopted an agreement on cross-border haze pollution in 2002 to help combat
fires caused by slash and burn practices and massive land clearing for products
like palm oil.
But
the treaty can’t be implemented because Indonesia has failed to ratify it, and
the 200 million people who live under the haze will just have to endure it.
Luke Hunt
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programmes. Many thanks for visiting www.yourvietnamexpert.com and/or contacting us at contact@yourvietnamexpert.com
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