PSI down but situation smoulders

Amresh Gunasingham, Straits Times 8 Aug 09;

THE haze eased up yesterday, with the pollution standards index (PSI) dropping to 52, just inside the moderate range.

The National Environment Agency's (NEA) Meteorological Services Division said a slight shift in wind direction diverted the smoke.

But over in Sumatra, satellite imaging showed 107 hot spots, said a spokesman.

The raging fires have placed the spotlight on the ability of the Indonesian government to limit the burning being carried out deliberately, said Dr Lim Wee Kiak, a member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for National Development and the Environment.

The different layers of central and provincial governments have to act on the issue. 'It takes all hands to clap,' said Dr Lim, who was involved in the recent meeting of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (Aipa), at which the issue of transboundary haze was discussed.

Speaking to The Straits Times, Dr Lim expressed 'deep concern' over the health implications of the double whammy of a potentially bad haze year and the Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic.

Yesterday, environmental groups based in the Riau province also described comments made by Indonesia's Forestry Minister as 'disappointing'.

Mr M.S. Kaban had said on Thursday that the central government would intervene in the slash-and-burn activities only if neighbouring countries protested, and flights were disrupted.

He said that the issue had been domestically exaggerated, and that it was not domestic affairs which were important, but Indonesia's 'international image'.

The comments were 'surprising', said Associate Professor Natasha Hamilton-Hart from the National University of Singapore, an expert on South-east Asian politics.

'The issue of forest fires and land burning is of regional and global significance.

'But it seems strange to be more concerned with international opinion when it is their own people at the front line of the fires," she said.

Dr Lim expressed hope for the haze to be kept at bay over this weekend's National Day celebrations.

NEA said periods of slightly hazy conditions can still be expected in Singapore over the next two days.

Haze forces Riau airport closure
The Jakarta Post 8 Aug 09;

Authorities at Sultan Syarif Kasim (SSK) II Airport in Pekanbaru temporarily closed the facility on Friday because of thick haze reducing visibility in the area.

The haze enveloped the runway from 6 a.m. local time, airport duty manager Ibnu Hasan said Friday.

"Visibility is currently only 600 meters," he said, adding that the airport would reopen once visibility increased to 1,000 meters.

Antara, which was quoted by AP, reported that because of the unfavorable conditions, four domestic flights and two international flights previously scheduled to land in Pekanbaru had been postponed or diverted to Polonia Airport in Medan, North Sumatra.

The two international flights were an Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur and a Riau Airlines flight to Malaka (Malaysia).

According to the Pekanbaru Meteorological and Geophysics Office, NOAA 18 Satellite detected 44 hotspots in eight districts in Riau.

The districts were Bengkalis (10 hotspots), Pelalawan (9), Indragiri Hilir (6), Rokan Hulu (5), Idnragiri Hulu (5), Rokan Hilir (3), Siak (3) and Dumai city (3).

The United States has offered to assist Indonesia in combating forest fires, and Malaysia has offered aid to organize a course on tackling forest and plantation fires in Riau province in particular.

Forest fires in Indonesia attracted international concern as they release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, adding to global warming, and create haze that crosses borders and impacts neighboring countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Fires have become more frequent and widespread in recent years, especially in Sumatra and Kalimantan, because of human activity in forested areas. During the El Nino of 1982-83, fires burned about 3.7 million hectares of forests degraded by commercial logging and agriculture in Kalimantan.

Scrub, grassland, cleared forest and rainforest areas are often cleared (using fire) for cash crops like palm oil and rubber plantations.

In Jambi, governor H. Zulkifli Nurdin and other local officials joined fire-fighters to put out fast-spreading forest fires in the province while the thick haze blanketing Riau has forced residents to use masks on a daily basis.

In both provinces, fires were spreading fast in forests and plantations and swampy areas, exporting haze to neighboring countries. The same problem has also emerged in Kalimantan where thousands of hectares of bushland and lowland forests have been affected by fires.

Local authorities have complained at the difficulty of extinguishing the fires, claiming climatic elements and a lack of public awareness have compounded the annual problem.