Hooked On Asia

Kuala Lumpur by Phalinn

The skies over Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and other places around the region, are once again in danger of being enveloped by “The Haze” said to be caused principally by slash-and-burn agriculture production on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan.

It was in October 1997 that I first became aware of The Haze. Although slash-and-burn agriculture has been practised for millennia, it was in that year the Haze caused extensive problems for the region. It significantly affected the tourism industry, the health of the population and the environment. The total economic loss was estimated to be US $9 billion.

Apparently, the cyclical weather phenomenon known as El Nino exacerbated normal atmospheric conditions such that the smoke from these slash-and-burn activities, and sporadic forest fires, spread in swathes across the region: it caused the air quality, measured by the Air Pollutant Index (API), in many places to reach dangerous levels.

In major cities like Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, just as with any city in the world, you expect to see levels of pollution caused by traffic, industry etc but during the Haze those levels shot up. I recall at one point in Kuching, East Malaysia the API was around 300.

As a result of the Haze in 1997 (which continued into 1998), Indonesia outlawed the clearing of land by fire but the government’s efforts in eradicating it so far appear to have had little effect. Indeed there have been further episodes of especially bad Haze (albeit not to the ’97/98 levels) in 2002, 2005, 2006 and there are signs that it is returning in 2009.

Haze Over Kuala Lumpur in 2005 (Wikipedia)

Only today I read that:

<< Malaysia has offered to help Indonesia curb forest fires as air quality fell in the country.

“We have special aeroplanes which can be used to carry out water bombing,” the Sunday Star quoted Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak as saying.

“It is up to the Indonesian government to accept it,” the premier told the newspaper, as he urged Malaysians to avoid open burning.

Malaysian environment authorities said air quality and visibility in parts of the country over the past week fell from “good” to “moderate.”>>

The report goes on:

<<Environment ministers from Singapore, Malaysia and other regional nations have urged Indonesia promptly to ratify a regional treaty aimed at preventing cross-border haze pollution.

Malaysia said last year that it will help Indonesian farmers practise safer farming methods, to help curb the forest fires, by sending experts to the fire-prone Riau region on Indonesia’s Sumatra island.>>

With all the other issues affecting the region from the Global Financial Crisis to Swine Flu, as far as tourism is concerned this is the last thing the region needs right now. Perhaps more important though is the threat to the health of the local residents and to the environment. I just hope that the Indonesian government, together with its neighbours, finds a speedy solution to the problem for everyone’s sake.

Sumatran Tropical Rainforest by Wild Tiger

As I understand it, the slash-and-burn preparation of the land starts around June and lasts through until November with a peak in September and October. However there is no suggestion that the conditions this year will be anything like as severe as they were in ‘97/98, and personally I would not be dissuaded from visiting at that time.

Being a weather-related phenomenon the Haze is very unpredictable and all the visitor can do, especially if you have a respiratory condition, is to monitor the situation. Fortunately, the two countries which seem to suffer most from the Haze now publish daily API (PSI in Singapore) figures; and these can be viewed at Singapore’s National Environment Agency site and on Malaysia’s Department of Environment site.

It is of course bad enough for the tourist visiting these places when there is a Haze episode but what must it be like for the local residents? Have you been affected by The Haze in South East Asia?