Singapore offers help on fires
Source: Agencies |
October 23, 2010, Saturday
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Smoky haze hanging over Singapore from fires set in Indonesia was causing a significant increase in health problems, Singapore said yesterday, as it offered its neighbor help to put the blazes out.
Malaysia has also blamed the worst air pollution in the region since 2006 on the fires that an Indonesian official said were set deliberately to clear land for farming.
Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo telephoned his Indonesian counterpart, Marty Natalegawa, to express concern about the haze and reiterate Singapore's readiness to help.
"Minister Yeo informed Minister Marty that the PSI went over 100 yesterday and cases of respiratory problems including asthma had increased significantly," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
A reading above 100 on Singapore's PSI, or pollution standards index, is considered unhealthy.
The fires and smoke pollution are a regular occurrence and can scare off tourists and disrupt transport, leading to strains in generally good ties in the region.
But Indonesia, the world's top palm oil producer, has a history of weak forestry law enforcement and appears unable to do anything about the problem.
Yeo's call came a day after Singapore's environment minister, Yaacob Ibrahim, spoke with his Indonesian counterpart, Gusti Hatta, urging Jakarta "to allocate the necessary resources, and implement timely and effective measures to solve the haze situation."
The haze, which started this week, is caused by large fires that were lit to clear land for palm oil plantations on Sumatra.
"We have done our best to minimize the forest fires in those areas. But the law enforcement is weak," said Noor Hidayat, director of forest control at Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry.
"I think law enforcement apparatus must work harder and tougher towards people who did this. Shock therapy is needed here," Hidayat said.
Indonesian television showed a wall of grey smoke rising from plantations and forest in Sumatra while the city of Pekanbaru was choked with haze.
Illegal land clearing by palm oil developers is common in Indonesia.
Fires clear land quickly and reduce the acidity of peat soil, but release vast amounts of greenhouse gases.
The fires come ahead of an Indonesian plan to impose a two-year moratorium on new permits to clear natural forest from 2011 as planters are looking to expand plantations on the back of rising palm oil prices.
Malaysia has also blamed the worst air pollution in the region since 2006 on the fires that an Indonesian official said were set deliberately to clear land for farming.
Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo telephoned his Indonesian counterpart, Marty Natalegawa, to express concern about the haze and reiterate Singapore's readiness to help.
"Minister Yeo informed Minister Marty that the PSI went over 100 yesterday and cases of respiratory problems including asthma had increased significantly," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
A reading above 100 on Singapore's PSI, or pollution standards index, is considered unhealthy.
The fires and smoke pollution are a regular occurrence and can scare off tourists and disrupt transport, leading to strains in generally good ties in the region.
But Indonesia, the world's top palm oil producer, has a history of weak forestry law enforcement and appears unable to do anything about the problem.
Yeo's call came a day after Singapore's environment minister, Yaacob Ibrahim, spoke with his Indonesian counterpart, Gusti Hatta, urging Jakarta "to allocate the necessary resources, and implement timely and effective measures to solve the haze situation."
The haze, which started this week, is caused by large fires that were lit to clear land for palm oil plantations on Sumatra.
"We have done our best to minimize the forest fires in those areas. But the law enforcement is weak," said Noor Hidayat, director of forest control at Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry.
"I think law enforcement apparatus must work harder and tougher towards people who did this. Shock therapy is needed here," Hidayat said.
Indonesian television showed a wall of grey smoke rising from plantations and forest in Sumatra while the city of Pekanbaru was choked with haze.
Illegal land clearing by palm oil developers is common in Indonesia.
Fires clear land quickly and reduce the acidity of peat soil, but release vast amounts of greenhouse gases.
The fires come ahead of an Indonesian plan to impose a two-year moratorium on new permits to clear natural forest from 2011 as planters are looking to expand plantations on the back of rising palm oil prices.
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