Haze in Southeast Asia: Needed local actions for a regional problem

Southeast Asia experienced disastrous haze episodes in 1997 and 1998 as a result of natural factors such as the El-Nino occurrence and its attendant drought, which aided desiccation and facilitated high combustibility of forest resources, and human activities such as widespread burning of forests in the lush tropical environment. The human factors that caused the haze are presented in this paper, and the conclusion is that Nature is not guilty. A comprehensive approach that tackles the root causes of the haze problem is suggested. Particularly, socioeconomic problems of the poor who use fire as part of their land management, promulgation and effective enforcement of environmental laws are needed on the one hand to reduce the frequency and magnitude of haze episodes in the future. On the other hand, education of the public on 'safe' behavior during haze episodes is necessary to avert large scale haze-related disasters or to prevent haze from becoming instantly synonymous with disaster in the region.