[caption caption="www.todayonline.com"][/caption]During the hot summer of 2015 Southeast Asia was engulfed in a massive cloud of smoke that began in Indonesia and extended into Malaysia, Singapore, Philipines, Thailand and Vietnam. The smoke cloud was big enough to be seen from space and due to the decreased air quality many official warnings were raised and facemasks became a necessity when going outside. On some days the air quality was so poor that schools were closed in many of those countries. In addition to that the resulted smog led to reduced visibility in cities, thus some flights were cancelled.
The cause for such a disaster was purely manmade as both palm oil companies and farmers would use traditional methods of burning to clear the land from excess and weeds before replanting, an illegal technique known as slash and burn. At times the fires could not be controlled during the dry season and resulted in massive forest fires. The haze as a result of such activities happens each year in fact but was especially worse in 2015 due to the El Nino that brought upon even drier conditions.
In terms of reforestation the more developed countries surprisingly have more trees today than 100 years ago. The same can’t be said for Indonesia and Brazil’s amazon forest. Indonesia has surpassed Brazil’s rate of deforestation in 2012 and is now the world leading in clearing forests. Some palm oil companies instead of replanting prefer the cheaper and short term method of burning down new forestry to grow new plants.
According to Wikipedia, ‘During the crisis, Indonesia surpassed the United States as the second largest producer of CO2 in the world due to the haze, just behind China.’ On normal days in China you can barely see the sky as the air is covered with a thick layer of air pollutants resembling a natural fog occurrence. Sunlight struggles to pass through and people especially the elderly must wear gas masks when going out. Contrary to its name smog is not limited to smoke and fog but also includes various other macro and micro air pollutants. Smog will form in high density industrial areas as well as urban cities with high vehicular activity.
On Parade day, Beijing banned cars and polluting industries for 2 weeks. On this special occasion the smog has risen and the sunlight’s warmth reflected throughout the city and the sky showed a full blue. The once clouded skyscrapers were standing tall and bright and very visible.
There has been criticism that Indonesia had not strictly enforced environment laws in previous burnings and many of those convicted got off without facing harsh penalties. Citizens of Riau complained for a lack of aid from the government throughout the ongoing burning forests and requested aid from neighboring Malaysia instead.
It was predicted that if the dry season continued then the 2015 SEA haze would become one of the worst events in history. Fortunately the heavy rains turned the tides, the fires overall decreased, the air got better and the situation resided.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation_in_Indonesiahttp://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/more-trees-than-there-were-100-years-ago-its-true
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34265922