THE PROBLEM OF HAZE

Indonesia battles – via disaster management agencies and diplomatically – the problem of a dense cloud of smoke-cum-particulate matter in April-May every year, as farmers use slash-andburn techniques to gain more arable land. Because of the fires in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and some parts of Thailand are engulfed every year in a thick peasoup fog that takes a toll on the health of people. Haze is a major diplomatic issue in relations between Indonesia and its neighbours. Singapore has passed a Transboundary Haze Pollution Act to penalise offenders.

Most of September and October, forests fires rage in San Francisco, California, Silicon Valley and the Sonoma Valley causing a haze to descend on regions as far away as Phoenix. The air quality, according to the US Environment Protection Agency, matches that of Beijing in winter. Residents even 50 miles away from the fires have complained of asthma attacks and wheezing during this period. Most schools cancel all physical activity events, sport practice included.

All construction activities have been banned in China from November 2017 to March 2018, in a bid to partially alleviate the haze that descends on Beijing every year around this time. This includes the demolition of houses. “Livelihood” projects such as affordable housing, railways and airports could be allowed to proceed, provided they have taken permission from the government. China is in the fourth year of its “war on pollution” campaign after smog blanketed Beijing for several weeks. In 2016, Beijing reported near-record levels of smog, suggesting that the measures the country had taken were inadequate to deal with pollution. The government ascribed smog to “unfavourable weather”.