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From the haze to sustainability
On Dec. 1, Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo signed into law a blanket ban on the cultivation of carbon-rich peatland across the country.
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Burned down -- Thick smoke emanates from burned land in Sam-sam village, Kandis district, Siak regency, Riau. (Courtesy of the Riau Land and Forest Fire Post’s air task force/-)
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outheast Asia’s skies over the last twelve months have mostly been free of haze pollution. This is a relief for the warming planet as forest fires, particularly on peatlands, typically release huge amounts of carbon dioxide and cause acrid smog.
Efforts by the Jokowi administration in Indonesia to tackle the fires at source are one reason for the improvement. Wetter weather conditions have also played a major part in the good results. But the weather is changing, and not all for the better.
This year, experts predict the conditions will be drier than normal and fear that the extreme dry weather phenomenon called El Niño will return as early as July. Concerns arise, therefore, that severe fires will break out across plantation and forestry concessions across Indonesia, causing a return of the haze.
Efforts to prevent that are being made. On Dec. 1, Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo signed into law a blanket ban on the cultivation of carbon-rich peatland across the country.
In anticipation of the dry conditions this year, Indonesia’s Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG) is already doubling up efforts to support the prevention of fires at the local and provincial level. Such on the ground and industry-specific efforts deserve recognition and support.
More broadly, the need is to help steer the value chain of agroforestry products towards greater sustainability. It is not just dry weather that causes the haze. The haze is a terrible manifestation of various unsustainable practices that plague the plantation sectors across the region.
Small scale growers are often reported to use fires for land clearance because they see little other choice. Many suffer low productivity and small margins and also lack of access to the right machinery and financing.
