20190814 Forest fires déjà vu for Jokowi’s administration: Jakarta Post
Indonesia Aug 14 2019 “Forest”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 0 or unknown Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Forest fires déjà vu for Jokowi’s administration: Jakarta Post
Updated: 2019–08–14
Indonesian firefighters battling a fire at a peatland forest in Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra on Aug 10, 2019.PHOTO: AFP
JAKARTA (THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – It has been a cause for concern in the region that fires razing Indonesian forests have led to a haze crisis in Malaysia.
Although Indonesia has denied that the fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan have caused haze in the neighbouring country, it is indisputable that fires are on the rise again this year.
Wildfires burned through 42,740 hectares of land from January to May, nearly double the figure in the same period last year of 23,745 ha.
The number of forest fires began to increase in 2018, affecting 510,000 ha throughout the year.
The fires came after the country previously curbed the scale of forest fires, with 165,000 ha burned in 2017 compared with 2.6 million ha in 2015 – one of the country’s worst fire disasters.
The new low that we may be heading to this year – if warnings go unheeded – may wipe out the progress that the country had achieved earlier. And this is not good.
People will suffer from respiratory problems and face constraints in their daily activities because of thickening haze. Death is not impossible as at least 24 reportedly died because of haze in 2015.
Web Source: The Nation
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/forest-fires-deja-vu-for-jokowis-administration-jakarta-post