Why does the haze keep coming back?

The haze is back again. For the past few days, the 24 hour PSI level had been hovering between moderate and unhealthy levels. The haze situation is not something new to Singaporeans but that cannot be a reason for it to occur anyways. For those affected, we often turn our eyes onto Indonesia, blaming them for the forest fires in Sumatra and their poor management and lack of government oversight of the situation. However, the haze situation is not just about finding out who started the fires and punishing them, it is about understanding why the fires were started in the first place and finding a solution from there.

So, why does the haze keep coming back?

After the haze situation in 2015, known as the worst in the region as of yet, which resulted in “shutdowns” of many cities in affected regions (schools were closed and people could not leave their houses to go to work), farmers, corporations and the government had been taking steps towards deterring farmers and corporations from using slash-and-burn to clear forested lands for their own agriculture uses.

In Riau, farmers from a small village were taught composting in which they learned how to turn wood waste and leftovers from their crops into fertiliser, removing the need for the farmers to utilise the slash-and-burn method to obtain fertilised land. Corporations had also begun taking steps towards preventing such fires. Minamas Plantation, a subsidiary of Sime Darby, worked with local universities towards creating “fire-free” villages while Singapore-based Cargill worked with the Environment and Forestry Ministry to bring in fire-fighting capabilities to 26 villages in South and West Kalimantan. These practices will allow farmers to forgo the slash-and-burn method which will naturally prevent the haze situation from occurring again or at least minimise its severity as farmers will be equipped with the knowledge and abilities to prevent any fires from spreading.

The government also took up measures to curb the situation as companies found to have started forest fires had their palm oil and timber concessions sealed. With regards to the current situation, the Environment and Forestry Ministry have been taking a tough stance against corporations responsible for the haze, sealing off a total land area more than 6000 hectares.

"The government has a serious commitment to prosecute (these companies). We will be able to address the fires only if we can change the behaviour of the people and companies, and we will take strict measures to do that." - Rasio Ridho Sani, Environment and Forestry Ministry's director-general for law enforcement

Yet depsite these efforts to fight the fires and haze, we have to remember that Indonesia is a huge country and a large part of its land and people are involved in farming. A report published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations stated that about 32% of the land in Indonesia is used for agricultural purposes while about 33% of the labour force is being employed in the agricultural sector. The government, NGOs and corporations are on the other hand limited, either by resources or resilience. Hence, many poor farmers around in Indonesia still do not have access to the resources and technology to adopt different methods of farming other than slash-and-burn despite the promotion and commendation of certain efforts. In actual fact, these efforts have only scratched the tip of the iceberg.

At the same time, poor farmers are generally only concerned about survival - that is growing enough crops for sustenance and perhaps earning some extra cash.

At the Singapore Dialogue on Sustainable World Resources, Mr Franky Oesman Widjaja, Chairman and CEO of Golden Agri-Resources had mentioned that it is much easier for corporations to invest in sustainable methods than small stakeholders such as poor farmers. Without the resources and motivation to change their methods of farming, it is difficult to create lasting and effective impact in the agricultural sector in Indonesia. Clearly, if making ends meet is already an issue, being eco-friend perhaps hardly make it to the top of these farmers' to-do list. Moreover, it is worth noting that palm oil is one of the most lucrative sources of income for farmers in Indonesia, enticing more farmers and corporations to constantly burn forests down when the time is right to maximise their earnings and profits.

“Oil palm farmer incomes increased from IDR 14 million/hectare/year (US$966) in 2009 to IDR 31 million/hectare/year (US$2,140) in 2013, while those who produce rice and rubber have only increased from IDR 4.6 million/hectare/year to IDR 7.2 million over the same period,” - Ir. Bambang, Director general of plantations at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

So, the key point is not finding fault with who started the fire - even if the law enforcement agencies were able to arrest 100 culprits responsible for the fires, there could be so much more people out there escaping scot-free. Instead, it is also about diminishing the need to start these fires and the government has to take more proactive steps towards not just educating the farmers, but providing them with more incentives to move away from destructive ways of farming that is slash-and-burn. Enforcement has to work alongside government support for the people. Else, the haze situation will just return year after year, disrupting and perhaps destroying the lives of those living in affected areas, slowing down the growth of their economy and creating a stagnation for the progress of the largest nation in the region. If Indonesia wants to project an image of a developing nation that has the potential to be a leader in the world stage, it will first need to resolve its domestic issues and the haze situation can perhaps be a good starting point.

(Cover photo by Afif Kusuma)

By Eugene Goh