Bangkok Post

11 Dec 2017
With the annual problem fast approaching from haze, smoke and smog emitted by the burning of forests and fields, the government is already stepping in. The minister of Natural Resources and Environment announced steps to try to curb the problem, to alleviate this annual risk to health and the economy. Unfortunately, the first steps taken last week by the minister, Surasak Karnjanarat, are pretty much guaranteed to make the mission fail.

Gen Surasak chaired a meeting last Friday on the problem. He made two main points during the session. He pointed out that Laos and Myanmar have not just complained about the haze problem from Thailand, but also contribute to the smoky skies across the northern regions of the three countries. And he pointed directly at “slash and burn farmers” who illegally use fire to clear their land to prepare for new crops.

Both sets of finger-pointing simply avoid the true cause of months of choking haze that cover the region beginning as early as January every year. Blaming the neighboring countries is simply deflection, and has no effect unless it is raised directly with ministers or experts from those two countries.

More importantly, it is impossible the minister does not realize the real source of massive smoke and haze in the North. He seems to be avoiding the elephant in the room.

It is well documented and clear that almost all the haze in the North comes from agribusiness corporations, eagerly expanding their already massive land holdings. Their managers and workers do indeed, as the minister let slip, intentionally ignite and fan wildfires to burn entire forest areas.

The actual planners and operators of these quite illegal activities are in the cities, entirely complicit in activities they know to be illegal, but which fatten the profits and increase the bottom lines for their companies and shareholders.

The attempt to foist the problem off on slash-and-burn farmers is now too old to take seriously. Few farmers in the North burn their fields any more, but use modern, better means to prepare for a new planting season.

“Slash and burn”, a code phrase meaning farmers who waste the fields and move to new areas every year, is a phenomenon of the past. There is almost no room left for these old ways — and, in any case, nomadic-style farming was environmentally friendly and ecologically protective. One does not find complaints of smoke-filled skies sickening entire villages in the history of farming in the North.

If Gen Surasak’s description of the now-annual hazards of the burning season are misstated, his first suggestions on “new” steps to battle the problem are puzzling.

The main step he has already begun to organize is a bicycle campaign. The minister told the meeting that a rally with cyclists would serve to make bicycle fans aware of the problem.

And he promised more enforcement. Last year, 80 farmers were arrested for burning their fields, out of many hundreds of fires set — and no big companies were named or affected.

It is clear by now, both in Thailand and in Indonesia, that the only way to clear the skies is to crack down on corporations taking the easy way to expand their agribusinesses. It is also highly likely that illegal encroachment is involved.

Providing more education and encouragement for small-holding farmers is a step in the right direction but the only harsh enforcement currently needed to stop the haze is against big companies with massive farming interests.

(https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1376303/murky-answer-to-haze-woes)