Daily chart
Indonesia’s forest-fire haze
6.11.2015.
See charts for emissions and hotspots: http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/11/daily-chart-3
Indonesia’s forest fires
Burning questions
7.11.2015. ONE of the countries most seriously affected by this year’s mighty Niño is Indonesia. By the middle of last month more than 20,000 firefighters were battling blazes across its jungles and peatland. Only the onset of heavy rains has brought some respite from the toxic smoke which has shrouded South-East Asia since August. Perhaps $200m has been spent trying to douse the blazes, which at times have outnumbered firefighters five-to-one. Some scientists think that by drying out already-parched earth, trenches dug to supply water for hoses may even have made things worse.
Read full article: http://www.economist.com/news/international/21677629-el-ni-o-leaves-much-south-east-asia-choking-smog-burning-questions
Community firefighters tackle forest fire from grassroots
The dawn still sheltered beneath the tropical forest-lined horizon in Kalimantan, as 24-year-old Maryadi Dayak Sanjaya yanked the throttle on a motorized canoe, angling its prow toward furtive trails of smoke that threatened to gather in the distance.
In the previous four months, Sanjaya had gone from being a fresh graduate from the University of Palangkaraya to coordinating the nascent fire prevention and suppression program within the Katingan Project, an effort to conserve one of the largest intact peat swamp forests remaining in Indonesia. - See more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/10/community-firefighters-tackle-forest-fire-grassroots.html#sthash.FuYZZiHq.dpuf
Read full article: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/10/community-firefighters-tackle-forest-fire-grassroots.html
Doctors alone cannot cure haze victims
As a physician I worked at a puskesmas (community health center) in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau, one of the provinces hit hardest by recent forest fires and pollution.
Patients of all ages came to the puskesmas, mostly with breathing problems or worsening chronic conditions like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. They normally asked me, “How can I stop the coughing?” or “When will my baby be able to breathe easily again?
Read full article: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/13/doctors-alone-cannot-cure-haze-victims.html
Scientists warn of health problems from haze
Toxic fumes from the Indonesian forest fires that have spread a choking haze across Southeast Asia may be doing more harm to human and plant health than officials have indicated, scientists measuring the pollution say.
Farmers are expecting a poor harvest because plants have had too little sunlight for normal photosynthesis, while government figures of half a million sickened by the smoke are only the “tip of the iceberg”, said Louis Verchot, a scientist with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).
Meanwhile, the fires are converting carbon stored in burning peatlands into greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change.
Read full article: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/11/scientists-warn-health-problems-haze.html
