Stop pollution and resulting hazes throughout South East Asia

The illegal slash and burn practices that caused forest fires was the main reason for the occurrence of the Southeast Asian haze that happened recently in 2015, affected several countries in Southeast Asia, Singapore included, whereby Indonesia is the most affected country since the forest fires originated from there.

This is a long-term issue that occurs in various intensities during every dry season in the region, hence action must be taken to prevent this air pollution crisis from taking place again, having that the haze causes adverse health and economic impact on Singapore and other countries such as Malaysia.

The haze occurrence had been recorded since 1972 and there were intense cases such as the 1997 Indonesian forest fires, 2005 Malaysian haze and several more. Whereby in the 1997 case, the forest fires began to affect neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Singapore by spreading thick clouds of smoke and haze. An article from StraitsTimes states that "Singapore and Malaysia are likely to see fewer tourist arrivals as some countries are starting to send travel warnings abut the two countries, which might impact hotels and retail spending, said Chua Hak Bin, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Singapore."

Mr Chua Hak Bin had estimated that the impact on Singapore could range from 0.1 per cent to 0.4 per cent of gross domestic product, depending on whether the haze lasts for one month or three. "The health costs might rise exponentially if the haze worsens and persists for a long period," he said.

Alerting news that was taken from the StraitsTimes article was that "The worst haze in 1997 cost Singapore $300 million, while a milder event in 2013 led to about $50 million of losses to retailers, hotels, tourism and the economy overall, according to research by Euston Quah, a professor and head of the economics division at Nanyang Technological University. The impact may go beyond tourism to impact the broader economy."