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| Fire burning in a company concession platation in Riau Province, Indonesia |
The hase comes from the forest of Sumatra and Kalimantan in Indonesia now turned into palm oil plantations. The clearing of land by burning is much faster and cheapper than the use of machineries.
What is causing the
haze and why?
The
haze comes from fires set to clear forest land for agriculture, often palm-oil
plantations. It is an annual occurrence but many researchers say it is worse
this year because of severe drought caused by El Nino. Herry Purnomo, a
researcher at the Center for International Forestry Research, says clearing
land by fire is fast and about 10 times cheaper than using machinery. Demand
for cleared land has risen alongside demand for palm oil, which is found in a
wide variety of products including shampoo and ice cream, he said. Indonesia is
the world’s biggest producer of the commodity and plantations owned by
Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean companies earned about $18.4 billion in
revenue last year, Mr. Purnomo said.
Where are the fires
occurring?
Mostly
in Sumatra and in Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of Borneo. These once
forest-rich islands are now largely covered in plantations. Environmentalists
often point to plantation firms as the fires’ culprits. Companies say it’s
mostly local actors. Unclear land ownership adds to the finger pointing. Many
parties are involved, and the fires happen in state forests,
community-owned land and within plantation company concessions, Mr. Purnomo
said. According to Global
Forest Watch, an online forest monitoring system created by the
World Resources Institute, about 35% of the fires over the past week occurred
in pulpwood, palm oil or logging concessions.
What
is the impact?
The
center estimates economic costs to the region will reach close to $14 billion.
The direct costs come from damage caused by the fires, but there are also
related impacts on health, the environment and tourism. According to
Greenpeace, around 110,000 deaths occur annually from pollution-related illnesses
stemming from the haze. The loss of forest cover also deprives wildlife of
habitat and increases conflicts between endangered species such elephants and
tigers and the communities near which they live. Fires on peat land, which
currently accounts for about 40% of the burned area, unlock huge carbon stores,
releasing climate-changing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That matters
since Indonesia is working to reduce its emissions in time to meet a 2020
commitment. Greenpeace says 20% of the carbon emissions from Indonesia – one of
the world’s biggest emitters – come from fires on peat.
What’s needed to stop
it?
Plantation
companies need to use land more productively rather than expand their
concessions, the center says. The government also needs to better enforce laws
that prevent forests and forested peatland from being developed for
agriculture. In May, President Joko Widodo renewed a ban on new licenses to log primary forest and
peatland, but the results since the moratorium was first signed in
2010 have been below expectations. Environmentalists say restoration projects
and strict law enforcement would help, as well as changing the complex network
of economic interests that drives demand. A complex patronage network
comprising farmers, local officials and businessmen benefit enormously from the
fires, said Mr. Purnomo, and needs to be eliminated. Responsibility also rests
with Malaysia and Singapore since companies based there reap many of the
benefits of the sale of Indonesian palm oil, he said. Greenpeace says the
government should speed up work on a comprehensive land-use map that would
include plantation concession information to better determine who owns what
land.
What is being done?
Some of
the biggest pulp and paper and palm oil companies in Indonesia have made no-deforestation
pledges, largely to meet sustainability commitments that allow them to export
to companies in Europe and the U.S. Many have also put no-burn policies in
place, which they say they apply to all their suppliers. Tofan Mahdi, spokesman
of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association, said one of its members was among those
who had their licenses suspended and the association was considering expelling
it. Under national laws companies caught clearing land by fire could suffer
sanctions, such as fines or jail time. Last year Singapore introduced
legislation that allows it to prosecute companies found to be a cause of the
haze.
