Southeast Asia shrouded in Haze again
On the 1st of July 2007, The Malaysian’s popular daily newspaper, The Star published on the northern region of the Peninsula which was clouded in the thick haze on the day before. It may have been a trick of the eye to see a blurred vision of the famous 13.5km Penang Bridge and also the Komtar building amongst other skyscraper residential apartments based in the island but with the subsequent reports of the hotspots found in Sumatra, this is definitely a registered fact that the dreaded haze is back.
Looming over the skies without failure every year, the Sumatran forest fires have been pinpointed as the root cause of the gloomy and depressing atmosphere which clouds the SouthEast Asia region. The country has countlessly been blamed for the reckless behavior of open burning and causing discomfort over the shared space of air over the entire region; and also on the effects this phenomenon had over the neighboring countries. Disputes pursue endlessly and yet, it is a repetitive and recursive event which still continues to haunt the region year by year.
The identified regions were marked as Sumatra and Kalimantan; as the hotspots in the country which hosts the open burning. The duo was known for its topography of the spread of lush green forests but have been subjected to the blaze for whom the land owners (mainly farmers) who set them to flames to vanquish the prequel of their crops and harvest to make way for the next batch of plantation which explains the reason behind the annual event of open burning. The mass burning all at a simultaneous moment has spurred the release of a massive thick smoke into the air; clogging the pores of the clear skies. This is especially prevalent in the Southeast Asia region; namely countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines which were relatively close in the geographic distance from the burning region. Besides the geography factor, another contributing key factor was the tropical weather which is typically a cycle of dry and moist atmosphere which encouraged the forming of the haze over the region as haze is usually formed in the dry air (as defined by the Wikipedia).
One of the worst episode of haze was in 2006; when every single country was hit with the most alarming API(Air Pollutant Index) which raised the siren for the health concern among the nation. Everyone was advised against any form of outdoor activities; and some schools even issued off days to ensure that students will not be exposed to any outdoor curricular activities and also the danger of the particles in the air to the younger and less resistant bodies. Besides the health issues, most of the countries suffered a downturn in their revenues as a result of the decrease in the tourism from other continents to the SEA region. Countries’ economies rocketed down which affected most of the commercial markets. Disputes of course,followed again with shouts from the neighboring countries to put a halt to the burning activities which are threatening the harmony of the union of all these countries in the same region.
ASEAN (The Association of the South East Asian Nations) have then reacted and signed the an agreement/plan with the intervention of Canada. The agreement enclosed the voices of the countries on the haze and pollution level in the other regions affected by the responsible country; termed as the Transboundary Haze Pollution. Also, a plan was also formulated at the same time, the RHAP (Regional Haze Action Plan) which enabled a system to eye and alert the nation for any fires to further implement the Fire Danger Rating System. This has been an immediate and urgent move called to action to stop the haze from permanent damage and the Malaysian Meteorological Service has been active with their activities since 2003.
Rain water has always been the saviour but at the same time, haze often occurs during the dry spell periods; as mentioned, the main factor for its formulation in the first place. Nations have resorted to tradtional rain doctors (bomohs, dukuns, sifus, etc) to pray and perform magic to "call" upon rain to wet the skies and land and at the same time, wash away the haze and dust particles. Besides, governments have also invested in cloud seeding to trigger artificial rain to clear the skies and other numerous efforts as well have been conducted.
However, the main issue lies in the awareness; it needs to come from those who started the fires. These are the people who need to know the damage they have created as a result of their convenience and how it has affected not only one or two person but an entire continent to suffer the fate. There should be further enforcement of law to ensure that these errant and irresponsible people are made to stick to their toes when it comes to the environment. Education plays an important role to teach the young not to dwell in harmful activities and to understand the environmental effects.
In all, it is not just a duty of one to ensure that this will not recur but a joint effort to enforce the agreement. And most of all, the responsible country should also play its part. Finger pointing and blaming is inevitable when things happen and the culprit should be responsible and ensure that actions are taken.
Let us pray for the haze to vanish as sudden as it appeared; and in the meantime, do stay indoors and drink lots of water to prevent any unwanted discomforts.
