Indonesia’s annual peat fires are a global disaster that must be stopped
A fireman works to contain a wildfire on a field in Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra, Indonesia, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015. Pic: AP.
THE haze that spreads over parts of Southeast Asia each year, compromising human health and contributing vast amounts of greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, has seen its worst year yet. Smog from peat and forest fires has blanketed areas of Indonesia, where most of the fires originate, as well as Singapore, parts of Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, leading to what is becoming an annual barrage of complaints against the government of Indonesia and the Singapore- and Malaysia-based land development firms that are largely responsible for the blazes.
