Suwadi can barely see five metres in front of him when he steps outside his home in Indonesian Borneo. Each breath, he says, feels “like smoking a cigarette”. It has been like this for weeks in Kalimantan, the Indonesian side of Borneo island, where fires have raged across tens of thousands of acres of land, including ancient rainforest, triggering a trans-boundary haze now threatening Malaysia and Singapore.
In West Kalimantan there has been a spike in emergency room visits, with about 5,000 people arriving with respiratory symptoms each week since July, compared with 500 per week in the first half of the year, health ministry data shows. Children continue to go to school and adults to work, but many are suffering from the unhealthy effects of breathing in thick smoke, constantly. Some classes have been suspended, with parents urging schools to switch to online learning.
Fires each year in Kalimantan are often blamed on “slash and burn” techniques used to clear land for plantations that produce palm oil, of which Indonesia is the world’s largest producer. Authorities say this year’s “super” El Niño may be intensifying the blazes, with the weather phenomenon expected to peak in September. Experts have warned the worst could be yet to come as the dry season continues into October, and the rains that could extinguish the fires look unlikely before November.
The haze is fast becoming a regional issue, with Malaysia and Brunei agreeing to raise it at Asean as thick smoke from forest and peatland fires drifts across the border. On Tuesday, the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, was the most polluted city on earth, followed by Jakarta, according to air quality monitoring company IQAir. Almost 600 schools in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on Borneo island closed due to hot and dry conditions.
On social media, Indonesians have tried to draw attention to the issue – highlighting the huge blazes in Kalimantan, and also in Sumatra, West Papua, and in Lombok where a fire destroyed a traditional Sade village over the weekend. Forestry ministry data shows that nearly 94,000 hectares (232,000 acres) have burned nationwide this July alone. On Monday, the Indonesian president, Prabowo Subianto, ordered authorities to revoke the business permits of corporations suspected of directing the land clearing, state news agency Antara reported.
Indonesian police arrested 72 people suspected of starting fires in Borneo and Sumatra, with most accused of deliberately burning land to clear areas for plantations. The response comes as regional experts fear this could be another devastating fire year, with many of Indonesia’s most severe blazes occurring during El Niño cycles. In 2015, another El Niño year, more than 6m acres were burned, with trans-boundary haze again plaguing neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore.
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