InVinoVeritas

Two bits of bad news regarding this perennial problem.

The first is that due to exceptional hot and dry weather in Sumatra and Kalimantan, Indonesia as a result of El Nino, there are expected to be more peatland fires this year with smoke pushed towards Malaysia.

The second is that Sumatra has decided not to implement the Memorandum of Understanding signed only last year with Malaysia due to a lack of cooperation from the Indonesian government.

So, as we all feared, this problem looks set to continue.

SushiFan

We have to wait and see how things develop. This is what The Star had to say about the topic today:
Transboundary haze issue will be tackled govt-to-govt - Nation | The Star Online

bakedbean

What a surprise!

InVinoVeritas

The whole approach is pretty much "wait and see", just as it always has been. I wonder if anyone actually got prosecuted in Sumatra last year for burning?

JC3

It’s the same every year - procrastinate, delay, produce reports, move goalposts, hope for rain, forget about it for six months, then just as the burning and the haze starts again announce change of plan, need for action, blah blah blah, which of course is very handily too late to stop the latest fires.

Earlier this year I read that a few prosecutions had happened recently, but these were for fires in 2012-2013, which illustrates the speed at which this issue is being dealt with by Indonesia – i.e. super slow, if at all.

While rare in the past, Indonesian courts are increasingly finding palm oil companies guilty of causing the haze. Indonesian courts prosecuted at least four plantation companies for the 2013 forest fires. Hefty fines by Indonesian standards have been imposed in West Kalimantan, Riau, South Sumatra and Aceh over the last couple of years.
Source: Indonesia’s haze crisis hits record levels | Norton Rose Fulbright

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by palm oil company PT Kallista Alam and ordered the company to pay fines totalling Rp 366 billion ( US$25.6 million ) for illegally burning large swathes of the Tripa forest in Aceh, a verdict that many hope could set a precedent for future law enforcement against agro-forestry companies.
The Environment and Forestry Ministry, which filed the lawsuit against PT Kallista Alam back in 2012, said the ruling was unprecedented, especially the size of the fine ordered in an environmental case.
Source: Record fine against plantation company upheld - The Jakarta Post

JC3

Davita

We regularly fog our villa in Bali to prevent mosquito's from breeding.
I told my wife to stop because Singapore gets regular free-fogging from Indonesia and they still have 115 cases of mosquito causing zika virus.

Clearly... fogging doesn't work...

JC3

The trouble is fogging only kills adult mosquitoes that come into contact with the fog, and that’s only temporary.

Fogging is usually done in the evening after sunset, or in the morning before sunrise, when most mosquitoes are flying about looking for food, and not resting. So whilst fogging has a good chance of killing the flying adults, the lazy adults still resting survive. As do any mosquitoes already in your house.

Then there’s the baby ones to worry about – the larvae. Fogging does not kill the larvae. Wait a day or two after fogging and the larvae become adult mosquitoes replacing their dead comrades.

To kill the larvae all standing clean water, indoors and outdoors, needs to be removed.

So if there’s any buckets, cans, pots etc. in your yard or your neighbour’s yard that collect water, tomorrow the little buggers will be back.

JC3

Davita

Well I don't know JC3...
Singapore for years has been complaining about the free-fogging sent from the islands of Indonesia but they've never had an outbreak of Zika before.
Now Indonesia is doing something about it, as per your post #5, and reducing the haze....maybe that IS why the mosquitoes have returned and infected so many Singaporeans.
Sometimes its best not to get what you asked for...