Suggestions

The 3Ps: Protect, Prevent and Prepare

Protect

During the haze period (October to December), what should we do to protect ourselves from being affected by the Haze?

Environmental Agencies of the countries affected to the haze should always release the latest air quality index readings on a regular basis to the public in order to create awareness of the air quality in the regions. It is also to alert the public to take actions when the air quality reaches the unhealthy level.

We should minimize the outdoor activities and stay indoors.? If there is a need to have outdoor activities, wear a mask to filter the pollutants in the air. In times of the absence of a mask, a suitable alternative is a wet or moist cloth. It would be able to eliminate most of the haze pollutants present in the air. For the people with weak health constitution, they should always stay indoors to avoid worsening of their conditions.

Equip buildings, schools and enclosed places with air purifiers. This would help to keep the air inside the buildings clean and free from most of the haze pollutants.

Cloud seeding troops should be formed within the air force of the countries affected by the haze. In times of very unhealthy levels of air quality and shortage of rain, the troops can be sent out to seed the clouds.

Tourists who happen to visit the countries affected by the haze during that period of time should be provided with a booklet in which contains suggestions, tips and advice about where they should tour in the country — places of interest that are less affected by the haze. The booklet should be able to convey the message to them that although haze is present in the air, life can still go on normally and not compromised in any way. In other words, the tourists should still enjoy their vacation in the country despite the presence of the haze.

Prevent

According to new reports, the haze would occur again in the later part of this year and it is predicted that the situation would be worse as there would be a more serious El-Ni?o effect this year. The weather would be drier than before because of it. Hence, it would be essential
for the government and the public to be very prepared for it with the following.

1. Every family in the affected countries should be made available to a haze-combating kit, consisting of an air purifier, masks, vitamin pills, moisturiser and a booklet containing emergency hotlines.

2. Doctors from countries affected by the haze situation can come work together to publish a booklet that contains the symptoms that people with health conditions should look out for during the haze situation to check whether their health status is worsening or not. It should also provide advice on how the people should react if they diagnose themselves to such symptoms.

3. Doctors from the countries affected by the haze can also come together to form a network of clinics with specially trained medical staff to screen patients with health conditions worsened by the haze situation. These clinics would then be the centre of treatment during the haze period. The contact information of these clinics could be posted on somewhere accessible for everyone — a complete portal that the public can access information related to haze. They can also book appointments in advance with the doctors — this would reduce waiting time.

4. A set of action plans can be developed as a joint effort by the countries affected by the haze.

5. The government should educate the citizens from young about what they should do; how they should respond when the air quality reaches different levels of healthiness. The media authority can be employed to convey the message to the public on how they should respond when the air quality reaches different levels of health standard.

6. Subsistence farmers can be educated on other simple and more efficient ways to
clear land. Funding from different charitable organizations can be used to purchase the necessary land-clearing machinery (bulldozers, excavators) for the farmers to clear the land by cutting down the trees without polluting the air. The wood can then be sold and the revenue earned can be added to the income of the farmers to support their families and also to pay for upgrade of the machineries.

7. A standardized global air quality index should be established throughout all the countries across the globe. This would make cross-referencing of the air quality measurements among different countries much easier, and in turn make work easier for professionals — scientists and environmentalists.

Prevent

Farmers could be provided with subsidies by the Indonesian government to purchase the required proper land-clearing machinery (forestry-mowers, excavators). In this way, farmers would be able to clear the forest the proper way, without causing air pollution. Farmers caught as repeat offenders should be fined or even jailed. Large corporations have the resources to do that, so if they are caught setting forest-fires, they should be punished severely by being heavily fined.

The government should draw up more stringent laws to deal with the farmers and corporations that contribute to the haze situation. People responsible should be punished severely by being heavily fined. Repeat offenders should even be jailed. From our interview with Dr Chang Chew Hung, we learnt that it is not enough just to draw up a law against farmers who use the “slash-and-burn” method of clearing the land, but it also includes enforcing it —the government should be more active in sending officials to conduct frequent checks at the potential fire-setting sites, especially around September to December annually. This would prevent farmers from setting forest-fires to clear land. However, if the officials discover that fires have already been started, they should immediately take action by mobilizing the fire-fighting force to extinguish the flames as soon as possible before it spreads to the entire forest.

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Summary

The haze situation that occurs in South-east Asia is originated from Indonesian forests. It started in 1997 and that year, the haze was the worst seen. Farmers and large corporations use the “slash-and-burn” method to clear the forest. This method is, of course, the cheapest and fastest technique to make more land for crop-planting. However, it has serious consequences on the environment as the haze evolved not only contaminates the air but also poses a great threat to health.

While most farmers turn to employing this technique because they are poor and cannot afford land-clearing machinery, corporations have the intention of clearing space to start timber and oil palm plantations as it is the cheapest way to save money.

Added to that, should the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon happen during the haze period, the results could be drastic. ENSO causes drier conditions, thus increasing wild bushfires. Haze periods could extend from one month to 3 months and the air quality would drop dramatically. Negative impact done to health, economy, tourism and environment would be far greater than usual. A very good example would be during the 1997-1998 haze period. The PSI in Singapore shot up to 226 during that time and at least $7 billion was incurred in losses.

People with allergies and health conditions may also be negatively affected.

The haze pollutants might also cause damage to the hearth and lungs. Especially for Particulate matter 10 (PM10), which can be found commonly in the pollutants, which when inhaled would cause the lungs to function at a decreased rate. This might result in shortness of breath, which is fatal! Even more, this pollutant is very hard to be avoided.

The forest fires also produced greenhouse gases that contributed to global warming -— shifting climate changes and unpredictable weathers results. The fires might also have destroyed rare species of organisms and endangered animals. It also posed threats to different modes of transportation.

The haze caused many flights to be cancelled and tourism rates in affected countries to decline tremendously. It made tourists unsatisfied about their vacations and even caused cases of accidents among modes of transport!

The haze situation caused a surge in medical costs as many people demanded treatment for illness brought about by it. People fell ill and less workers turn up for work, reducing efficiency of different industries during that period. People flocked to purchase health products to keep themselves healthy. Most stayed at home during that time to avoid inhalation of pollutants while many others went to indoor (air-conditioned) shopping centers. There were great losses in the economical and business world due to the drop in retail customers.

We have also come up with various suggestions in the course of our project. After researching on the different pollutant indexes used in different countries, we felt that if we could have just one single, standardized index, it would make work much easier for both citizens and professionals to measure air quality. It would be great if governments of all countries world-wide come together to develop and agree on a standardized air quality index to facilitate measurement of air quality in their respective countries.
The Indonesian government ultimately plays the most essential role in solving the haze situation and preventing it from repeating itself or even worsening in future. We suggest that it impose more stringent laws towards farmers and corporations that contribute to the haze so as to ensure that both parties put a stop to their inconsiderate actions.

Farmers could be provided with subsidies by the government to purchase the required proper land-clearing machinery (forestry-mowers, excavators). Farmers caught as repeat offenders should be fined or even jailed. Large corporations have the resources to do that, so if they are caught setting forest-fires, they should be punished severely by being heavily fined.

We learnt from our interview with Dr Chang Chew Hung that it is not enough just to draw up a law against farmers who use the “slash-and-burn” method of clearing the land, but it also includes enforcing it. The government should be more active in sending officials to conduct frequent checks at the potential fire-setting sites, especially around September to December annually. This would reduce the chance for farmers to set forest-fires to clear land. Unless the government plays an active role in taking prevention measures against forest-fire setters, the haze situation would never be solved.

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