JakartaPost-Sept 3
Toxic haze from forest and land fires in Indonesia have drifted further into neighboring countries as far as the Philippines and triggered public health alerts in some major cities, as experts forecast it may also reach mainland Southeast Asian countries. On Wednesday morning, seven air monitoring stations across the metropolitan area of Philippine capital Manila recorded “unhealthy levels” of PM2.5 pollutant particulate, according to the country’s Environment and Natural Resources Department (DENR). “The observed haze is possibly associated with smoke and transboundary haze from ongoing fires in Kalimantan, Indonesia, which may have been transported toward the Philippines by prevailing winds,” the DENR said in a statement posted in its official Facebook account on Wednesday. The administration of Quezon City, the most populous area in Metro Manila, issued on Tuesday a circular suspending all in-person classes and ordering public and private schools to turn to remote learning until further notice. Air quality has also worsened in other parts of the Philippines, such as Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa and Central Visayas. Warnings from Philippine authorities marked the latest episode of cross-border haze linked to the widespread land and forest burning in Indonesia. The haze reaching Indonesia’s northern neighbor followed forecasts from Europe-based earth observation platform Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Services (CAMS) that showed the general trajectory of pollution from wildfires in the country to cross the South China Sea toward the Philippines. Other forecasts by the body predicted the haze reaching southern regions of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, according to CAMS senior scientist Mark Parrington. “If the fire emissions continue to increase, as would be expected through September into October, the smoke and air quality impacts could persist for several weeks across the region,” Parrington told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. According to the CAMS fire emissions platform, the total carbon emissions generated from Indonesia between August and September are estimated at 46 megatons (Mt) of carbon, equivalent to the annual emissions of around 45 coal-fired power plants. It is the highest level compared with the same period since 2003, with around 38 Mt coming from fires in Kalimantan alone. The first episodes of transboundary haze were confirmed by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) in early August, when wildfire smoke from West Kalimantan crossed into the Malaysian part of Borneo Island. Since then, more areas in Malaysia have been blanketed by haze as more lands are burned in Indonesia.
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