Stuck in a haze (original) (raw)
Asia | South-East Asia
Will the neighbours ever dare to penalise the polluters?
ENVIRONMENT ministers from South-East Asia were due to hold an emergency meeting in Pekanbaru, in Indonesia, on October 13th to discuss the choking haze that has blanketed much of the region in recent days. The smog arrives around this time every year, as loggers and farmers on Indonesia's island of Sumatra and the Indonesian part of Borneo take advantage of the dry season to clear land by burning trees and scrub. This year the smog is the worst since 1997 and 1998, when tens of thousands of people were hospitalised. By some estimates, the cost to the region, mostly in health care and blighted tourism, was $9 billion.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Stuck in a haze”
From the October 14th 2006 edition
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