During the haze period in 2013 which was sparked by Indonesia’s slash-and-burn culture for palm oil production, it has caused unhappiness by neighboring countries like Singapore who were being affected (Yahoo, 2013). What’s more ridiculous than having to endure the unhealthy air is to receive such remarks by the Indonesian government, which left us being clueless on how to react:
(News article with Indonesian government spokesman’s remark) (Koh, 2013)
Without such slash-and-burn techniques by unethical Indonesians and companies and forest fires due to dry seasons, the air quality ranking of Singapore based on the World Air Quality Index project AQI is 57th (updated on 22/8/2020, 4:23pm), with the air quality fluctuating between the range of Good(0-51) to Moderate(51-100).
Though events like haze and forest fires affect neighboring countries last for around a month, it has detrimental effects on people’s health. In Singapore alone, the haze which occurred in September 2019 caused by forest fires from Sumatra, Indonesia, had led to the Medical Director Dr. Edwin Chng of Parkway Shenton reporting a surge in patients of different age groups with haze-related health conditions. This group of patients constitutes 60% of its doctors who were attending one to five patients a day as compared to when there wasn’t haze, where they see none or one a day (Menon, 2019). Indeed, prevention and deterrence are key and it is a relief to know that the Indonesian authorities took this matter seriously and have arrested suspected culprits for causing the fires to go out-of-hand, as well as criminalizing any firms(including Malaysia and Singapore firms) that were responsible for illegal burning of forests (CNA, 2019).
(Satellite image showing wind direction and haze direction into Singapore from Sumatra, Indonesia) (NEA, 2019)
It is important that individuals, firms, and countries play their part and think before engaging in such irresponsible and irreversible acts that put our health as well as our air quality at risk. Such acts not only affect their country but also their neighboring countries. Moreover, as consumers are more aware of how their goods are being produced, if such acts persist, there is no doubt that the business would not be sustainable in the long term as the value of the firm does not align with the consumers. Hence, for the long term benefit of everyone, it would be ideal to use more eco-friendly and sustainable methods in everything that we do. Afterall, we depend on the earth and the earth depends on us.
Your environmental buddy,
Zhi Yong
References:
Channel News Asia. (2019, September 16). Indonesia arrests nearly 200 over raging forest fires. Retrieve from https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/indonesia-forest-fires-haze-arrests-200-health-air-11910416
Channel News Asia. (2019, September 12). Indonesian province moves to curb slash-and-burn clearances as fires rage. Retrieved from https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/indonesia-fires-curb-slash-burn-clearances-west-kalimantan–11900156
Koh, N. (2013, June 18). How to make jokes about the SG Haze [Digital image]. Retrieved from https://nkayesel.wordpress.com/2013/06/18/how-to-make-jokes-about-the-sg-haze/
Menon, M. (2019, September 19). Air quality improves but remains unhealthy in some areas as haze persists in Singapore. Retrieved from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/haze-hits-unhealthy-levels-on-wednesday
National Environment Agency. (18 September 2019) Haze Situation Update [Digital image]. (2019, September 18). Retrieved from https://www.nea.gov.sg/media/news/advisories/index/haze-situation-update-18-september-2019
The World Air Quality Index Project. “Air Quality Index Scale and Color Legend.” Retrieved from https://aqicn.org/scale/
Yahoo! News. (2013, December 10). Singapore haze levels hit PSI 400, worst in 16 years. Retrieved from https://sg.news.yahoo.com/year-in-review-2013–singapore-haze-levels-hit-psi-400–worst-in-16-years-044455629.html