‘Indonesia fires a bigger threat than expected’

BANGKOK: Toxic fumes from the Indonesian fires that have spread a choking haze across South-East Asia may be doing more harm to human and plant health than officials have indicated, scientists measuring the pollution say.

Farmers are expecting a poor harvest because plants have too little sunlight for normal photosynthesis, while government figures of half a million sickened by the smoke are only the “tip of the iceberg”, said Louis Verchot, a scientist with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

Meanwhile, the fires are converting carbon stored in burning peatlands into greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change.

“When the sun goes up, the whole world is yellow. On the worst day, the visibility was less than 100m,” said Verchot, who led a workshop on the crisis in Central Kalimantan province last month with about 20 scientists from Indonesia, the United States and Britain.

While taking measurements on a burning 5,000ha plot, the scientists – equipped with gas masks and a drone – trod carefully across the ash-covered peatland to avoid calf-deep holes, hot from the smouldering underground.

They are still analysing their data, but Verchot said they had found harmful gases in the air including ozone, carbon monoxide, cyanide, ammonia, formaldehyde, nitric oxide and methane.

“It irritates your eyes, it irritates your throat. Without a mask, I don't know how people live in this stuff,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone from Jakarta.

Many people wear simple masks that are ineffective at filtering the dangerous compounds, or no masks at all, he added.

The smoke from the fires on Borneo, Sumatra and elsewhere in Indonesia has spread to neighbouring Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Local media reported that schools in Central Kalimantan had closed for almost five weeks over the past two months, while the haze killed at least 10 people and sickened 504,000 on Borneo and Sumatra – though Verchot believes the figure is much higher. — Reuters

Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Regional/2015/11/11/Indonesia-fires-a-bigger-threat-than-expected/