Haze now, acid rain and other problems to come for SE Asia
Haze now, acid rain and other problems to come for SE Asia
By Paul Alexander
SINGAPORE (AP): El Nio brought the severe drought that turned
the forests of Indonesia into tinderboxes. Now it's delaying the
arrival of seasonal monsoons needed to douse the raging wildfires
that have blanketed Southeast Asia in smoke for weeks.
But environmentalists fear that whenever the rains arrive,
they will bring big problems of their own -- from increased
acidity in soils and rivers to severe erosion of denuded lands.
"It's a lose-lose situation," said Ho Wai Chi of the
Greenpeace environmentalist group. "We want the fires to be put
out by the monsoons, but we're going to get acid rain, floods and
other effects on the ecosystem."
Those potential calamities seemed far away to most people last
week as thick haze continued to plague the region, stretching
from Thailand to Australia and affecting millions of people.
The smog has added to the woes of the region's economies,
which have been reeling from a plunge in investor confidence that
has driven down the value of their currencies. Tourists are
staying away, worker productivity is down and crop growth has
been hurt.
Azwar Anas, an Indonesian government minister, said last
Friday that the fires have damaged 74,000 acres and ignited
underground peat and coal deposits that experts say will be
particularly difficult to extinguish.
Weather satellites showed 14 "hot spots" still burning on
Indonesia's Sumatra island, and more may be hidden by the haze's
density. Cars have to turn their headlights on during the day in
badly affected towns.
Several governments reported increases in the numbers of
people suffering respiratory problems.
Smoke reached Australia for the first time, causing haze in
Darwin before winds shifted. Meteorologists said the smoke cloud
was more than 300 miles (480 kilometers) long and 185 miles (300
kilometers) wide.
"It was amazing. Usually smoke disperses really quickly, but
this was such a concentrated mass," forecaster Graeme King said.
Some rain sprinkled on Singapore, Jakarta, Indonesia, and
other areas last Thursday, but it had little effect -- just a
tantalizing promise of the monsoons that normally have begun by
now.
Residents have been praying for monsoons since July when the
fires -- many set by timber companies, plantation owners and
small farmers to clear land -- got out of control.
But Ho, the Greenpeace activist, said that what already is "a
tragedy, a disaster," will not end once the rains arrive.
"When you burn a forest, it creates a lot of sulfur in the
air, which then leads to acid rain," he said. "It will increase
the acidity of soil in many areas, which affects the nutrients,
which affects the whole ecosystem."
While government officials played down the impact of acid rain
on city residents, whose water is treated, rural areas could be
hurt by contaminated rivers. At least one large fish kill has
been linked to high water acidity in Singapore.
"We're trying to get word to the people so they can be aware
of the danger of acid rain." said Maya Sarah, a researcher at the
Indonesian Environmental Forum.
The private environmental group also warned that heavy
downpours could wash away loose soil in areas where vegetation
has burned off and cause widespread flooding.
Ho said the problem is magnified because the fires have hit
primary rainforests and the lush undergrowth that is critical for
fertility and soil protection.
Some researchers, Ho said, fear the haze already has destroyed
the navigation systems of bees that are crucial for pollination
of many plant species.
And "no one knows what the long-term effect of the haze will
be on the health of the people," said Gurmit Singh of the
Environment Protection Society of Malaysia.
Twelve people have died of haze-related respiratory ailments
on Sumatra, Indonesia's official Antara news agency reported
recently week. It added that 40,000 Indonesians are suffering
respiratory infections and eye irritations.
Health advisories for air pollution also were issued for at
least two days each in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
where skyscrapers periodically disappeared in the smog. Some
people wore gauze masks.
Poor visibility led officials to close several airports again
in Indonesia and Malaysia. They also worried ships might collide
or helicopters might get lost while servicing off-shore oil
wells.
About 60 people have drowned in Indonesia in several river
boat collisions blamed on the haze. Twenty-nine died when a cargo
ship collided with a supertanker in the Strait of Malacca in poor
visibility in September.
Local media reports said Malaysia's government told university
scientists and environmentalists to stop commenting on the haze
problem, fearing further damage to its multibillion-dollar
tourist industry.
There are no reliable estimates on the decline, but in the
resort island of Penang, hoteliers said occupancy rates have
fallen from 80 percent to 30 percent because of the smoke.