South East Haze Have you got it?

[darran 0]

Recently, there have been a lot of burning of forests in Indonesia, a country which is just neighbours with mine; Singapore. As a result, there have been clouds of haze over Singapore, and no matter where, you can smell burnt ashes. I was playing football just yesterday, and the haze really took out a part of my stamina away. I was grasping for breath after just close to an hour. Usually this does not happen to me when I play. Is anyone experiencing this as well? I just don't understand why these forests must be burnt? It not only hurts nature but also the humans living near it. Trees are slowly disappearing from our earth because of the extensive wastage of paper. And we humans are just continuing to destroy them. I am a person who is pretty oriented to nature, not as well as an environmentalist, but I definitely forbid the burning of forests. Why can't they just take the time and cut them down instead of gunning the trees in the entire forests to death? Does any of our South East neighbours feel the same way about the haze and burning of forests?

[serverph 0]

thankfully, this doesn't seem to be affecting us in metro manila, here in the philippines. metro manila is geographically north of our archipelago, and although we are part of southeast asia, the source of the forest fires in indonesia is too far for us to experience it. and maybe the winds are helping too, since it may be forcing any of the smog created by the fires out of our way.often times, these situations as forest fires can be prevented. news reports say the fires could have been accidentally set about by plantation/agricultural companies or farmers who are clearing lands, most likely commercial purposes. meaning, it's all economics -- be it high-profit margin for the companies, or small-profit margin for small farmers. we can't help much if small farmers do it, since slash-and-burning to clear out land for cultivation could be their only means of livelihood. however, it's no excuse not to be careful about such method, since as what happened, the fire got out of hand. for big-time profiteers, well they should be ready to compensate all those affected by such actions. it will hurt their pockets the most, and hopefully they will stop it altogether, if not driving them to total bankruptcy. in short, they should stop doing it the EASY way (big or small timers), since a minor human error could spark a raging fire which cannot be controlled without much difficulty and has a wide ranging effect in the region. and the government of indonesia should assist the small farmers who practice the slash-and-burn method, by giving them alternative sources of livelihood so they will not return to this practice anymore.hey, darran, hopefully the haze will soon start to dissipate and eventually disappear in your part of the region. and hope indonesia would get to control and extinguish the forest fire, without waiting for the monsoon rains to lick it. it's not only the people of the region which gets affected, but their very own people most especially who get the greater part of the health risks, affecting even overall tourism which drives the economy of much of our region. not to mention, trees help our planet survive. let's keep our fingers crossed that this ends soon.

[leerechel 0]

I believe most of us who are settling in South East Asia have had their fair share of the problems resulting from the Indonesia haze. Thankfully, it's all over and we can finally stop all the syndrome such as eyes and skin irritation, coughing we get for breathing in too much of those "polluted" air. However, I would still like to comment on this "burning down of forest" behaviour. This year's air pollution is one of the worst I've ever encountered and to be frank, I was shocked to see these problems prolonging for so long. Many of our health have deteriorated and the number of patient a clinic attends to per day have increased drastically. Not only that, it have also destroyed our mother earth, the nature, the economy. Here we are trying resuce our earth, and over there, we get people destroying forest in such a way!Moreover, this situation seems to have affected the economy in countries that have been affected by the haze. The number of tourists have reduced during that period and this have eventually affected the tourism side. Lets hope that the "slash and burn" will never take place again.

[bettlebug 0]

Ya. I do agree with the previous writter. I strongly feel that Indonesia should not have choosen to take the short cut route to destroy the forest for land. I understand that this would be the fastest way, however, they should have taken the people's health into consideration. Moreover, not much effort was seen to have been taken to prevent the negative side effect resulting from the forest fire. In addition, not only have they deteriorate the locals peoples' life, the neighbourhood countries have also been seriousy affected. The economy of those affected have plunged. Tourism rate have not been as optimistic as before. Hence, I feel that it is indeed a wrong step that they have taken.

[-[Nero]- 0]

There's been news that the indonesian government are blaming the Malaysian's real estate agency for burning the forest after purchasing the land.

[leerechel 0]

Hi all, I'm here again. I would like to hear from more people on their opinion on this topic:-The impact of the haze on the Asian economy. It would be great if you can provide me with answers to this question. Thanks!

[mug 0]

The way how haze affects Asian economy is just like the way how cigarettes affect your body. It is not an instance/immediate thing. It takes place gradually, biting off what is on you bit by bit till nothing's left for you to mourn over with. We don't face this HAZE problem 24/7 a day yet! We faced it twice/thrice a year with effects lasting for like 2 months per time?!? Just imagine the amount of air u inhale in [which includes e haze] daily, u might be able to withstand it for like two times & when the third fire comes burning the forest down, u might just die course the unhealthy stuff in you just accumulate! And when the number of 'causalities' [death/injured] increase, tell me, who is left to slog in our workforce?!? Who is there to earn those bread money for Singapore & WHO is there, to hold up Asian's economy? Well, I am sure that the tourism side will get affected. In another words, both the economy & ecosystem will be facing a tragic situation.

[xinle 0]

I think that the government should do something about it. Just because they want to clear the land, we have to suffer and that's not fair to us. It affects our health and many people fell sick just during that period of time. I seriously feel that there's a need to put a stop to it.

[zell_zhou 0]

I personally think that burning of forest is an irresponsible act and it is simply an act of foolishness and stupidness. By burning the forest, u produce haze. U not onli harm people of your own country, but all people of the whole asia. A small mistake have eventually become a global 'disaster' for the asian. I understand that they wanted to clear lands for their own use. But destroying a forest take a few days to do so, yet growing it back takes decades!!! I would rather have them chop down the forest slowly ,section by section and put the logs in good use. Rather than burning everything up and start killing everyone in the world. This haze affects everything!! economically, when people get sick everywhere, companies will have alot of problem completing their work , as a result , they lose money. Thus, Overseas investors will withdraw away from asian countries when such things strike asia.I reali hope their government will do something about it and make actions to put a stop to forest being burnt.

Edited January 22, 2007 by zell_zhou (see edit history)