As fires burn, can Indonesia avoid repeat of 2015 haze crisis?

Michael Taylor Reuters 5 Aug 19;

KUALA LUMPUR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - As another outbreak of forest fires in Indonesia sends harmful smoke drifting across parts of Southeast Asia, researchers and environmental activists have urged Jakarta to step up efforts to prevent a repeat of the last major haze crisis in 2015.

Emergencies were declared in six Indonesian provinces on Sumatra island and in Kalimantan last week as fires raged, while neighboring Singapore and Malaysia issued health warnings about the air pollution that is heading their way.

Arie Rompas, a Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner who is from Kalimantan on Borneo island, said that with no rain since July, peatland fires were intensifying in areas burned in the 2015 disaster.

“Our courts have ordered the government to prevent this and commit more resources to extinguishing fires, and to name and prosecute the plantations where fires occurred in the past,” Rompas told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“Without this, fires will worsen and the situation could be the same as in 2015.”

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16 hotspots detected in Sumatra, 'slightly hazy conditions' possible: Met Service

Channel NewsAsia 4 Aug 19;

SINGAPORE: Sixteen hotspots were detected in Sumatra on Sunday (Aug 4), according to an update by the Meteorological Service Singapore.

"Persistent hotspots with smoke haze were detected in recent days over Sumatra as well as Kalimantan, which have been experiencing dry weather conditions.

"Due to cloud cover, a total of 16 hotspots were detected in Sumatra today and smoke haze from persistent hotspots continue to be observed in Riau and Jambi provinces of Sumatra," said the Met Service.

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Malaysia: Pasir Gudang factories directed to install emission data monitoring equipment

Bernama New Straits Times 4 Aug 19;

JOHOR BARU: All factories in Pasir Gudang have been ordered to install special equipment to enable direct data monitoring of emissions from its chimneys over a 24-hour period.

Johor Environment Department (DoE) director Wan Abdul Latiff Wan Jaafar said the equipment must have the latest technology capable of providing data directly to the department for online monitoring.

“At the same time, we will also be on the ground (factories) to verify the emission data, meaning that the factories must also have a good record-keeping system for verification,” he said.

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Malaysia: 39 haze hotspots identified

New Straits Times 5 Aug 19;

THIRTY-NINE hotspots were detected yesterday compared with 31 on Friday, which escalated the transboundary haze in the region.

Data from the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) revealed 36 hotspots in Indonesia’s Kalimantan, namely 13 areas in its western region, central (10), southern (eight) and eastern (five).

Two hotspots were identified in Sulawesi and one in Keningau, Sabah.

The air quality readings nationwide up to 6pm yesterday were at moderate levels.

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Malaysia: Malayan tiger teetering on the brink of extinction; 23 left in Belum-Temenggor Forest Reserve

Zahratulhayat Mat Arif New Straits Times 3 Aug 19;

GERIK: The fate of the Malayan tiger in Belum-Temenggor Forest Reserve hangs in the balance as rampant poaching continues.

Perak State Parks Corporation (PSPC) general-manager Mohamed Shah Redza Hussein said the species could become extinct in the next six to seven years if no immediate and drastic measures are taken.

"About seven to eight years ago, we had more than 60 tigers in Belum-Temenggor. But the latest study showed that there are only 23 left in this rainforest.

"This shows that the population has declined by about 60 per cent. If we do not take action now, I am sure within the next two or three years, we would have less than 10 tigers left, which is not enough for reproduction.

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Indonesia: BRG to develop more peat rewetting infrastructure in Riau

Antara 5 Aug 19;

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG) will develop infrastructure for peat rewetting in areas in Riau Province, with no record of land and forest fires.

"We have a mechanism to facilitate the development of infrastructure for peat rewetting in areas that earlier are not in our working plan," BRG Head Nazir Foead remarked here on Monday.

During a meeting with the Riau governor, regional disaster mitigation agency (BPBD), and Environment and Forestry Office that better understand the condition in Riau, Nazir was informed that in areas prone to land and forest fires in the eastern coast of the province, less reports of forest and land fires were received this year.

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Indonesia: 700 Pekanbaru inhabitants suffer from respiratory illness due to haze

Antara 5 Aug 19;

Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA) - Some 700 people in Pekanbaru, Riau Province, currently suffer from respiratory illness as haze from forest fires has shrouded the city over the last several days.

The authorities had warned local inhabitants to stay indoor to prevent their health from being impacted by haze, Yohanes, secretary of the Riau Health Office, said here on Sunday.

At least 10 thousand face masks were distributed to motorbikers, drivers and pedestrians.

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Stop abusing land, scientists warn

Roger Harrabin BBC 5 Aug 19;

Scientists are to deliver a stark condemnation of the damage being done to the land surface of the planet.

Human activities have led to the degrading of soils, expanded deserts, felled forests, driven out wildlife, and drained peatlands, they will say.

In the process, land has been turned from an asset that combats climate change into a major source of carbon.

The scientists will say this land abuse must be stopped to avoid catastrophic climate heating.

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Commentary: Tigers belong in the wild, not in our homes, the streets or farms

Tigers are at risk of extinction. We need to start taking tiger conservation seriously, says Vilma D’Rozario.
Vilma D'Rozario Channel NewsAsia 3 Aug 19;

SINGAPORE: Some things are not meant to go together, like peanut butter on pizza or papaya trees in Antarctica.

Last month, our screens brought us the sight of another strange combination: Two tigers walking down a road in Terengganu, Malaysia.

On Jul 18, Terengganu Wildlife and National Parks Department caught one of the roaming tigers, who unfortunately died just days later due to a canine distemper virus. The whereabouts of the other remain unknown.

Some have speculated that the tigers might have been pets, due to their seeming lack of instinctual predator behaviour in the village that they strolled through.

We don’t know for sure why the tigers were roaming the streets, but regardless, tigers are supposed to be treading forest trails, not walking along paved roads meant for tires and cars with racing stripes.

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Haze risk could last for months caused by very dry conditions, Met Service warns

Today Online 2 Aug 19;

SINGAPORE — The threat of occasional haze in Singapore could last for months owing to very dry conditions in the region caused by a weather event called the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), the Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) said on Friday (Aug 2).

The MSS said Singapore recorded its driest July on record, with the weather station at Changi recording 92 per cent less rain than the long-term average — and beating the previous record for the driest July set in 1997. It was also Singapore’s second-warmest July on record.

“Since early July 2019, dry weather has been persisting over southern Sumatra and Kalimantan. Drier weather can be expected in the next three months (August to October), with monthly rainfall of up to 60 per cent below average,” said the MSS.

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