Southeast Asia takes on haze problem as long-term danger looms

by | Oct 7, 2019 | Uncategorized

Everyone worries and cares about haze when it’s in their faces. But when the sky clears, the problem is out of sight and out of mind.”⠀ ⠀

For the Singapore act to be effective, it needs maps and Indonesia’s cooperation.⠀ ⠀

Indonesia has refused to publish detailed plantation concession maps despite a court ruling ordering it to do so, and it emerged earlier this year that companies found guilty of burning land in the years since 2009 had failed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in fines.⠀ ⠀

In Malaysia, companies have suggested publishing the maps would contravene state secrets.⠀ ⠀

After he toured smouldering tracts of land in Sumatra last month, President Joko Widodo admitted his government had been “negligent” in preparing for this year’s dry season.⠀ ⠀

The authorities have identified 16 domestic and international companies – some Malaysian – and scores of individuals that it says were responsible for this year’s fires. Some plantations have been sealed off.⠀ ⠀

A change in weather patterns and the arrival of rain has once again brought respite from the haze, removing some of the pressure on governments to enforce the law, and companies to take their sustainability commitments seriously.⠀ ⠀

#palmoil #palmoillaboursolidarity #sawit⠀https://buff.ly/2oUBdDQ https://ift.tt/2LTE2OA https://ift.tt/2MotYvK October 07, 2019 at 07:56PM

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