topic: Southeast Asia Haze

topic: Southeast Asia Haze

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2023 fires increase fivefold in Indonesia amid El Niño
- Nearly 1 million hectares (2.47 million acres, an area 15 times the size of Jakarta) burned in Indonesia between January and October 2023, according to environment and forest ministry data; El Niño and burning for new plantations contributed to this.
- 2023 was the worst fire season since 2019, when that year’s El Niño brought a prolonged dry season and fires so severe, they sent billowing smoke across Malaysia and Singapore.
- In the absence of local jobs, some people burn abandoned farmlands and turn them into new plantations as a way to make a living and survive.

In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
- Wildfire poses significant health risks to Indonesians, particularly children under 5, who especially suffered the effects of the 2019 haze.
- Farmers have long used fire in cultivation, and the risks to health and environment have grown significantly as deforestation and drainage have made peatlands particularly susceptible to fire.
- In 2022, women from the Indonesian part of Borneo formed “the Power of Mama,” a unit to fight hazardous wildfires and their causes.

Indonesian children locked out of school as El Niño haze chokes parts of Sumatra & Kalimantan
- Poor air quality over several Indonesian cities and outlying rural areas has forced local authorities to cut class times or close schools altogether.
- Air pollution on Oct. 5 in one area of Palangkaraya far exceeded the level at which air quality is classified dangerous to human health.
- The government of Jambi province has closed schools until Oct. 7, after which it will review whether to reopen for in-person teaching.

Indonesian oil palm firm slapped with $61m fine for fires on its plantation
- Indonesia’s Supreme Court has upheld a $61 million fine against palm oil company PT Rafi Kamajaya Abadi for fires on its oil palm plantation in western Borneo.
- The fires burned an area spanning 2,560 hectares (6,326 acres), or more than seven times the size of New York City’s Central Park.
- To date, the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry has filed lawsuits against 22 companies for fires on their concessions, 13 of which have been found liable and must pay fines after exhausting all avenues of appeal.

As dry season looms, Sumatra villagers hope their peat restoration pays off
- Community-led efforts to restore degraded peatlands in Indonesia’s Riau province could be put to the test in early 2023 as the dry season sets in.
- Riau is the perennial epicenter of the burning season on Sumatra Island, and is expected to have a more intense dry season after three consecutive years of wetter-than-usual conditions due to La Niña.
- A broad coalition of local governments, communities, researchers and NGOs have been working to restore peatlands that had been drained in preparation for planting, with the hope that restoring water levels will prevent burning.
- As part of the restoration programs, communities are also adapting their farming practices, learning to prepare the land without the use of fire, and picking crops that are suited for the wetter soil conditions.

Indonesia’s Supreme Court rules President Widodo not liable in 2015 fires
- Indonesia’s highest court has ruled President Joko Widodo not liable in the 2015 fires, overturning three previous court rulings that found him to be liable for the disaster.
- The plaintiffs, a group of citizens and environmental activists affected by the 2015 fires, have lambasted the court’s decision, saying it raises questions over the government’s seriousness in tackling the annual fire problem.
- The plaintiffs also questioned the process behind the ruling, saying they hadn’t been given the chance to refute new evidence presented by the government.

As dry season starts in Indonesia, risk of fires — and haze — looms
- There’s a degree of risk that Southeast Asia may see the return of transboundary haze this year from forest fires in Indonesia, according to a new report by a Singaporean think tank.
- The key driver of that risk is the currently high price of palm oil on the world market, which could pose an incentive for farmers in Indonesia, the world’s top producer of palm oil, to expand their plantations, including by clearing land with fire.
- In anticipation of the dry season, which starts in July, some local governments in Indonesia are putting in place policies to prevent fires, including sanctions for companies using fire to clear their concessions.

Indonesia’s new epicenter of forest fires shifts away from Sumatra and Borneo
- Indonesia, a country that suffers from recurring fires every year, saw an increase in land and forest fires this year, with flames burning an area twice the size of London.
- Two-thirds of the burned area was in the provinces of West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara, which until recently experienced much less burning than the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.
- Experts attribute the increase in fires in the two provinces to the lack of firefighting capacity at the local level and the extreme dry weather.

Indonesia eyes less severe fire season, but COVID-19 could turn it deadly
- This year’s forest fire season in Indonesia is expected to be less severe than in previous years, but the haze from the burning could still compound the coronavirus crisis in the country.
- Favorable weather conditions and ongoing efforts to restore peatlands point to a “relatively benign” fire season, and hence less risk of severe haze, a new report says.
- Even before the pandemic, haze from forest and peat fires was known to increase cases of respiratory infections fourfold in the hardest-hit areas; combined with COVID-19, haze this time around could stretch the country’s overwhelmed hospitals beyond breaking point.
- Indonesia has recently become the global epicenter of the disease, registering more daily cases than India and Brazil, with the country’s doctors’ association warning the health care system has “functionally collapsed.”

Efforts to restore tropical peatlands need fire-free plantations (commentary)
- In Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia and Malaysia, peatlands have been extensively drained and cleared using fire for agricultural purposes.
- One important step to reverse peatland degradation is to transition to fire-free sustainable peatland management in plantations.
- Insufficient law enforcement, lack of inter-agency coordination, relatively weak governance, and poor institutional capacity for forest and peatland management have been barriers to implementation of National Action Plans on Peatlands in ASEAN countries.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.

Podcast: Restoration for peat’s sake
- Once drained for palm oil or other agricultural uses, Indonesia’s peatlands become very fire prone, putting its people and rich flora and fauna – from orchids to orangutans – at risk.
- Over a million hectares of carbon-rich peatlands burned in Indonesia in 2019, creating a public health crisis not seen since 2015 when the nation’s peatland restoration agency was formed to address the issue.
- To understand what is being done to restore peatlands, we speak with the Deputy Head of the National Peatland Restoration Agency, Budi Wardhana, and with Dyah Puspitaloka, a researcher on the value chain, finance and investment team at CIFOR, the Center for International Forestry Research.
- Restoration through agroforestry that benefits both people and planet is one positive avenue forward, which Dyah discusses in her remarks.

Paper giant APP linked to Indonesia peat clearing despite sustainability vow
- Greenpeace Southeast Asia has identified nearly 3,500 hectares (8,650 acres) of peatland clearing in pulpwood plantations in Sumatra supplying Asian Pulp & Paper.
- Analysis of satellite imagery showed the clearing began in August 2018 and continued through June this year, despite APP having a “no peatland” and “no burning” policy that it also imposes on its suppliers.
- Greenpeace and local NGO Jikalahari also found evidence of fires in the concessions in question, which appeared to have been set deliberately to clear the land for planting.
- APP has denied clearing the peatland or setting the fires, calling into question the accuracy of the maps used and saying the fires spread from neighboring farms.

COVID-19 may worsen burning and haze as Indonesia enters dry season
- Reallocation of disaster preparedness funds for the COVID-19 pandemic could allow a flare-up of forest fires and haze as the dry season gets underway in Indonesia, with smog from Sumatra reported to have reached Southern Thailand.
- While the country is expected to see a milder dry season than last year, any haze episodes will exacerbate an already precarious public health situation as a result of the pandemic.
- Researchers in Singapore say Indonesian authorities are largely on the right track in preventing fires, which are typically set to clear land for plantations, but more needs to be done in terms of enforcement on the ground.
- They also suggest that small and medium plantation companies — rather than large companies or smallholder farmers — will have the most impact on how severe the fire and haze problem will be.

Forest fires in Indonesia set to add toxic haze to COVID-19 woes
- Forest fires have flared up in Indonesia, marking the start of the dry season and threatening to aggravate respiratory ailments amid the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.
- Haze from forest fires sickens hundreds of Indonesians annually, mostly on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo; many of them now suffer chronic respiratory problems that puts them at high risk of suffering acutely from COVID-19.
- Studies done in Italy have linked higher levels of air pollution to higher COVID-19 mortality rates, and experts in Indonesia fear that theory will play out in the country that already has the second-highest death rate from the pandemic in Asia.
- Social distancing measures imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus are already hampering fire prevention programs, and could do the same for firefighting efforts once the dry season intensifies.

As 2020 fire season nears, Indonesian president blasts officials for 2019
- President Joko Widodo has chided his top officials for failing to anticipate the severity of the land and forest fires that hit Indonesia last year, saying they must do better as the 2020 dry season approaches.
- The fires are set annually to clear land for planting, and there had been ample warning that an intense dry season and El Niño weather system would exacerbate the problem in 2019.
- The president threatened again to fire officials for failing to prevent or control fires in their jurisdictions this year, and quashed their excuses that last year’s burning wasn’t as bad as in other countries.
- A key weapon in the government’s fight against future fires is a program to restore degraded peatlands; but activists say the program is opaque and flawed, with little public accountability of the progress made.

Indonesia fires cost nation $5 billion this year: World Bank
- Land and forest fires in Indonesia cost the country $5.2 billion in damage and economic losses this year, equivalent to 0.5% of its economy, according to a new analysis from the World Bank.
- Half of the estimated economic loss came from the agriculture and environmental sectors, as fires damaged valuable estate crops and released significant greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, estimated at 708 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).
- The actual economic loss could be higher as the World Bank hasn’t taken into account the impacts of the fires on the public health and on the image of Indonesia’s palm oil industry.

Our fires weren’t as bad as in the Amazon, Indonesian officials claim
- Indonesian officials say their handling of forest fires this year has been much better than in other places, including the Amazon.
- But while the claim of a smaller burned area than in the Amazon holds true, the Indonesian fires have churned out nearly double the greenhouse gas emissions as the burning in Brazil.
- Environmental activists also say the much-touted regulations and preventive measures credited with keeping the fires from getting much bigger were largely ineffective, given the scale of the burning.
- Officials say they plan to adopt technological solutions for the upcoming fire season, including cloud seeding and the use of drones for early detection of hotspots.

Paper and fast fashion fan the flames burning Indonesia’s peat: Report
- Pulp and paper giants APP and APRIL continue to source their raw material from plantations located on carbon-rich peatlands in Indonesia.
- The burning of these peat forests prior to planting accounts for much of the fires that have made Indonesia one of the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters, and of the toxic haze that spreads out to neighboring countries.
- A report by a coalition of NGOs warns that these problems could get worse under the companies’ current peat-intensive business model and a relaxing of peat-protection regulations by the government.
- The companies have disputed the scale of the fires attributed to their suppliers’ plantations, and say they already carry out peat conservation initiatives.

Indonesia fires emitted double the carbon of Amazon fires, research shows
- Forest fires that swept across Indonesia this year emitted nearly twice the amount of greenhouse gases as the fires that razed parts of the Brazilian Amazon, new research shows.
- The Indonesian fires pumped at least 708 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in the atmosphere, largely as a result of burning of carbon-rich peatlands.
- The fires were the most intense since 2015 and threaten to set back Indonesia’s commitments to reduce its carbon emissions and contribute to global efforts to slow climate change.

Photos: Peatland fires rage through Indonesia’s Sumatra Island
- Aerial images taken last month in the southern part of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island show fires raging through peatlands and generating massive clouds of haze.
- The fires this year are the worst since 2015, exacerbated by an unusually intense dry season and an El Niño weather pattern.
- The fires are set deliberately to clear land for oil palm and pulpwood plantations, and the smoke they generate has sickened hundreds of thousands of people and spread as far as neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.

Area the size of Puerto Rico burned in Indonesia’s fire crisis
- A spike in fires in September has contributed to the razing of 8,578 square kilometers (3,304 square miles) of land across Indonesia this year, or an area the size of Puerto Rico.
- More areas are expected to continue burning through to the end of the year, but the fire season this year isn’t expected to be as bad as in 2015, when 26,000 square kilometers (10,000 square miles) of land was burned.
- The onset of rains has also reduced the incidence of transboundary haze that previously sparked protests from neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.
- Almost all the fires this year occurred on deforested land that had previously been burned, where the vegetation has not had sufficient time to regenerate after the last fires.

Indonesian enforcement questioned as fires flare up on the same concessions
- Indonesia says it plans to impose stricter punishment for plantation companies with recurring instances of fire on their concessions, including permanently revoking their permits.
- Several of the companies whose concessions have been burning this year were also at the heart of the 2015 fires.
- Activists say the fact that the problem is recurring on the same concessions highlights the government’s failure to adequately punish the companies.
- A Greenpeace report has found no meaningful action taken against palm oil companies guilty of burning since 2015, and inconsistent enforcement against pulpwood companies during that same period.

‘We’ve been negligent,’ Indonesia’s president says as fire crisis deepens
- Indonesia’s government has been negligent in anticipating and preparing for this year’s fire season, the country’s president says.
- The fires, set mostly to clear land for planting, have razed huge swaths of forest and generated toxic haze that has spread as far as Malaysia and Singapore.
- The president’s acknowledgement of the government’s lack of preparation comes in the wake of his own ministers apportioning blame for the fires to other parties.
- Activists say the government has little moral standing to go after the companies that have set their concessions ablaze, noting that the government itself has refused to take responsibility for failing to do enough to tackle similar fires in 2015.

Indonesian minister draws fire for denial of transboundary haze problem
- Indonesia’s environment minister continues to deny that fires in the country are sending toxic haze to neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.
- An environmental activist warns that this stance, which goes against the data presented by Malaysia, risks undermining Indonesia’s credibility.
- The haze is an annual irritant in diplomatic ties between Indonesia and its neighbors, with much of the burning taking place to clear land for oil palm and pulpwood plantations.
- Malaysia has offered to help Indonesia fight the fires, which have sickened tens of thousands of people in Sumatra and Borneo, threatened an elephant reserve, and churned more than 100 millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Photos: Forest fires rage on Sumatra oil palm concessions
- As Indonesia’s annual fire season gets underway, swaths of carbon-rich peat forests are being razed, and the subsequent toxic smoke has blanketed parts of Jambi province on the island of Sumatra.
- Dozens of hotspots have been detected on farmland, oi palm concessions, and even inside a protected peat forest in the province, according to the local disaster management agency.
- Mongabay visited one of the burning concessions, where minimally equipped workers are fighting to put out fires that have been burning for days without end.
- The workers deny that the oil palm company set the fire on the concession, claiming it started in a neighboring village. In 2015, three company employees were charged with setting fires on the same concession, though none were ever convicted.

Diplomatic row heats up as haze from Indonesian fires threatens Malaysia
- The number of fire hotspots in Indonesian Borneo and Sumatra has increased nearly sevenfold in a four-day period in early September.
- The surge has prompted calls from Malaysia, which has historically been affected by haze from fires in Indonesia, for its Southeast Asian neighbor to get the burning under control.
- The Indonesian government has refuted complaints that the recent increase in hotspots has resulted in transboundary haze.
- Indonesia faces what could be the worst fire season since 2015, fanned by an El Niño weather pattern.

Haze from fires, Indonesia’s national ‘embarrassment,’ are back
- Indonesia is experiencing its worst annual fire season since 2015, with the cross-border spread of haze once again threatening to spark a diplomatic row with neighbors Malaysia and Singapore.
- The government has acknowledged that measures adopted in the wake of the 2015 fires to prevent a repeat of that disaster may have fallen short, including efforts to restore drained peatlands and drill wells to provide water for firefighters.
- President Joko Widodo, scheduled to visit Malaysia and Singapore later this week, says he feels embarrassed by the return of the fires and haze, and has ordered the firing of officials found to have failed to tackle the problem.
- At the local level, however, governors of the affected provinces appear to be taking the matter lightly: saying the haze isn’t at a worrying level, offering a reward for shamans who can summon rain, and proposing questionable theories about the causes of the fires.

Top court holds Indonesian government liable over 2015 forest fires
- Indonesia’s Supreme Court has ordered that the government carry out measures to mitigate forest fires in the country, following a citizen lawsuit filed in the wake of devastating blazes in 2015.
- The decision upholds earlier rulings by lower courts, but the government says it will still challenge it, claiming that the circumstances that led to the 2015 fires were due to mismanagement by previous administrations.
- The plaintiffs in the lawsuit say they just want the government to implement common-sense measures to prevent the fires from recurring, and which existing laws already require it to carry out.
- The fire season is already underway again this year, as companies and smallholder farmers set forests ablaze in preparation for planting.

Palm oil, logging firms the usual suspects as Indonesia fires flare anew
- Fires have flared up once again on concessions held by palm oil and logging companies in Riau province on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
- For many of the companies involved, this isn’t the first time fires have sprung up on their land, prompting activists to question the government’s ability to enforce its own regulations against slash-and-burn forest clearing.
- Much of the affected area is peat forest, some of it being developed in violation of a ban on exploiting deep peatland, whose burning releases massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
- A failure by the government to collect on fines levied against the few companies prosecuted for setting fires on their concessions means there’s little deterrent effect for other companies that see slash-and-burn as the cheapest way to raze forests for plantations.

Borneo study explores links between farm expansion and deforestation
- A nearly two-decade study of land-cover change in Borneo has identified a positive correlation between the loss of forests and the expansion of plantations, primarily for oil palms.
- The findings undermine the long-held position of industry and government representatives that plantation expansion doesn’t contribute to deforestation and that it makes use of already cleared land.
- The study also highlighted a slowdown in rates of both deforestation and plantation expansion, which the researchers attributed to declining process of crude palm oil, more stringent regulations on forest clearing, and wetter weather in 2017.
- While the expansion of plantations hit a new low in 2017, activists say the possible illegal clearing of peat forests continues unabated in Indonesian Borneo, despite repeated calls to the government for action.

Hazy figures cloud Indonesia’s peat restoration as fire season looms
- An El Niño weather system in the early months of 2019 could see forest fires flare up once again in Indonesia.
- The government rolled out a slate of measures following disastrous fires in 2015, centering on the restoration of degraded peatlands that had been rendered highly combustible by draining for agriculture.
- While the number and extent of fires since then have declined significantly, activists attribute this more to milder weather in the intervening years, rather than the government’s peatland management and restoration measures.
- Activists have also questioned figures that suggest the target of restoring 24,000 square kilometers (9,300 square miles) of peatland by the end of 2020 has been almost achieved, saying there’s little transparency about the bulk of the required restoration, being carried out by pulpwood and plantation companies.

Second environmental expert sued over testimony against palm oil firm
- A palm oil company convicted and fined for negligence over fires in its concession is now suing one of the expert witnesses who testified against it in court.
- Bambang Hero Saharjo, an expert in fire forensics, is the second witness hit with a lawsuit by the company, JJP, which is seeking hefty damages on an apparently trivial technicality.
- The company dropped an earlier lawsuit against another expert who testified against it, but its latest move has sparked concerns among activists about a rising tide of litigation to silence environmental defenders.
- Indonesia has regulations in place to protect environmental defenders and witnesses giving testimony, but critics say there is little awareness among law enforcers about these protections.

Fires and haze return to Indonesia as peat protection bid falls short
- Fires on peatlands on Indonesia’s Borneo and Sumatra islands have flared up again this year after relatively fire-free dry seasons in 2016 and 2017.
- The government has enacted wide-ranging policies to restore peatland following the disastrous fires of 2015 that razed an area four times the size of Grand Canyon National Park.
- However, the fires this year have sprung up in regions that have been prioritized for peat restoration, suggesting the government’s policies have had little impact.
- Officials and activists are also split over who to blame for the fires, with the government citing smallholder farmers, and environmentalists pointing to large plantation companies.

Forest fires threaten Asian Games as hotspots flare up in Sumatra
- Fires have started to flare up in Indonesia’s South Sumatra province, which will co-host thousands of athletes, officials and visitors for the Asian Games, the continent’s biggest sporting event, later this month.
- Officials are worried about a repeat of the devastating 2015 fires that burned up an area three times the size of the state of Delaware, and that generated haze that sickened half a million people.
- After relatively mild fire seasons in 2016 and 2017, thanks to longer rainy spells, dry conditions are expected to intensify this year, at least through September, raising the risk of more fires and possibly haze.

Typo derails landmark ruling against Indonesian palm oil firm guilty of burning peatland
- A district court in Indonesia has shielded an oil palm company from a Supreme Court ruling ordering it to pay $26.5 million in fines for burning peatlands in a high-biodiversity area, citing a typo in the original prosecution.
- The verdict has stunned activists, who had hoped that the original guilty verdict would set a strong precedent for the judicial fight against environmental crimes.
- The government is appealing the latest ruling, which, ironically, is fraught with typos that — under the same legal logic — would render it just as invalid as the original guilty verdict.

Indonesia enlists plantation companies to ensure haze-free Asian Games
- Organizers of the Asian Games in August are wary of the major sporting event being hit by haze from brush and peat fires, an annual occurrence in Sumatra, where one of the host cities is located.
- The government has called on pulpwood and oil palm companies with concessions in fire-prone areas to take steps to restore degraded peatlands and prevent fires during this year’s dry season, which runs from June through September.
- The companies are legally obliged to restore areas of deep peat, and some are fast-tracking their other fire-prevention programs in light of the Asian Games.

How Indonesia’s Seruyan district became an epicenter of fires and haze

In the leadup to the release of the second installment of Indonesia for Sale, our series examining the corruption behind Indonesia’s deforestation and land-rights crisis, we are republishing the first article in the series, “The Palm Oil Fiefdom.” This is the third part of that article. The first part described a secret deal between the son of Darwan Ali, […]
Video: Arkani, the Dayak known as Jenggot Naga — Dragon Beard
- “The palm oil fiefdom” is an investigation by Mongabay and The Gecko Project, an initiative of the UK-based research house Earthsight.
- The article reveals how Darwan Ali, the former head of Indonesia’s Seruyan district, presided over an elaborate scheme to use shell companies as vehicles to make money from major palm oil firms.
- Short films produced in conjunction with the article feature some of those affected by Darwan’s licensing spree, including an indigenous man from Borneo named Arkani.

Indonesian Supreme Court strikes down regulation on peat protection
- Indonesia’s Supreme Court has quashed a ministerial regulation obliging forestry companies to relinquish and protect carbon-rich concessions in protected peat areas.
- The regulation was part of a package of new rules meant to prevent a recurrence of the annual fires that burn across Indonesia’s vast peat swamp zones.
- Businesses, labor unions and politicians had expressed concern over the regulation, saying that it would result in loss of productivity and massive layoffs.
- The government says the court ruling will not hamper the nation’s efforts to protect its peatlands.

Poor grade for Malaysia, Singapore brands in palm oil sustainability: WWF
- Two out of three companies in Malaysia and Singapore are not transparent about their palm oil use, the World Wildlife Fund contends.
- Most of these companies do not source palm oil that has been certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.
- Malaysia and Singapore’s brands have lower sustainability grades compared to global brands.

Norway bans government purchasing of palm oil biofuel
- The growth of the palm oil industry has been blamed for a host of damaging environmental impacts, such as deforestation and carbon emissions.
- Research indicates that biofuel made with palm oil may be even worse for the climate than fossil fuels.
- The Norwegian parliament responded to these impacts by voting in a regulation to its Public Procurement Act to stop using biofuel palm oil-based biofuel. The resolution further stipulates that the “regulatory amendment shall enter into force as soon as possible.”
- Conservationists laud the move, but say more countries need to follow suit. They recommend the EU’s biofuel policy be updated to reflect concerns about palm oil.

Indonesian governor asks president to let timber firms drain peat in his province
- West Kalimantan Governor Cornelis asked President Joko Widodo to let some timber plantation companies drain peatlands, even though Jakarta banned the practice last year.
- In a letter to the president dated Apr. 25, Cornelis makes an economic argument for allowing the companies to proceed as usual.
- Cornelis is a member of an international consortium of governors dedicated to fighting climate change; Greenpeace said his request to the president amounted to a “double standard.”
- His request came just days after Jakarta sanctioned a timber firm in his province for building an illegal canal through the Sungai Putri peat swamp forest.

Greenpeace slams paper giant over loophole in fire-prevention policy
- APRIL is Indonesia’s second-largest paper firm. It sources pulpwood from a vast network of suppliers in the archipelago country.
- It has come to light that APRIL’s fire-prevention policy exempts short-term suppliers. These compose a major portion of its supply base.
- Some suppliers defined as “short term” by APRIL have actually been supplying the company for years, according to Greenpeace.

HSBC financing tied to deforestation, rights violations for palm oil in Indonesia
- HSBC has helped several palm oil companies accused of community rights violations and illegal deforestation pull together billions in credit and bonds, according to research by Greenpeace.
- The bank has policies that require its customers to achieve RSPO certification by 2018 and prohibiting the bank from ‘knowingly’ engaging with companies that don’t respect sustainability laws and regulations.
- Greenpeace contends that HSBC, as one of the world’s largest banks, should commit to a ‘No deforestation, no peat, no exploitation’ policy and should hold its customers accountable to the same standard.

How local elites earn money from burning land in Indonesia
- Members of political parties and local figures are organizing farmers to burn land for sale to a variety of large and small buyers, a new study shows.
- These elites pocket most of the profits from this destructive and illegal activity. Village officials who administer land documents and the workers who carry out the burning also receive a cut.
- For the fires to stop, the study says, these actors must be disempowered through law and policy.

Korean company bans forest clearing for Indonesian palm oil concessions
- Korindo came under scrutiny last year when U.S.-based environmental group Mighty Earth published a damning report on their practice of burning to clear land.
- The report “Burning Paradise” was published on September 1, 2016 and alleged that Korindo had caused 30,000 hectares of deforestation and an estimated 894 fire hotspots since 2013.
- The illegal, yet commonly-used practice of companies burning land to clear it, leads to an annual haze from forest and peatland fires.

As accusations fly, paper giant appears to stand by its replanting of burned peat in Sumatra
- After the 2015 fire and haze crisis, the Indonesian government barred plantation firms from replanting the peatlands that had burned in their concessions. Instead, the companies were ordered to restore the dried-out peat soil to prevent future fires.
- Some agribusinesses, however, are said to be resurrecting their drainage-dependent acacia and oil palm estates in violation of the directive from President Jokowi’s administration. One of them is Asia Pulp & Paper, an arm of the Sinar Mas conglomerate.
- APP declined to comment substantively for this article, except to imply that everything it does is in accordance with the rules. But a director in the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry explained that the company had been authorized to replant burned peat with acacia trees because, he said, it would serve to mitigate certain fire risks.
- NGOs surveyed by Mongabay rejected the contention that planting peat with drainage-dependent acacia constitutes a valid means of peatland restoration, although some were more understanding of the government’s position than others.

Green groups raise red flags over Jokowi’s widely acclaimed haze law
- Indonesian President Joko Widodo last week codified a much-praised moratorium on peatland development into law.
- Though widely reported as a permanent ban on clearing and draining the archipelago’s carbon-rich peat swamps, the prohibition will only last until the government finishes mapping and zoning the nation’s peatlands, although stronger protections have been put in place.
- Norway praised the policy’s legalization, announcing it would release $25 million to support the sustainable management of Indonesia’s peatlands.
- Some environmental groups tell Mongabay that the regulation pays insufficient heed to the scientific evidence of what is required to prevent the wholesale collapse of peatland ecosystems.

69m people breathed toxic smoke from 2015 Indonesian fires: study
- The study was led by a researcher from Newcastle University and published in the journal Scientific Reports.
- The findings support an earlier study which concluded that 100,300 people are likely to have died prematurely as a result of last year’s fires.
- Researchers said they could have drawn more reliable conclusions if local hospitalization data had been available, but such data is scarce.

Parents who say Indonesia’s haze killed their children testify in citizen suit
- Indonesian President Joko Widodo has promised to prosecute companies linked to last year’s fire and haze disaster.
- In July, though, the Riau Police terminated investigations into 15 companies the environment ministry had listed in connection with the burning.
- At least two lawsuits challenging the dropping of the cases are now underway.

Fires ravaged forests in Indonesian palm oil giant Astra’s land in 2015
- In September last year, Astra Agro Lestari earned plaudits for issuing a zero-deforestation pledge.
- A new Aidenvironment report tracks the company’s progress implementing its commitment.
- A major issue is Astra’s policy for preventing fires on its land. Fires raged across its concessions last year, but the firm has not elaborated how it plans to stop burning.

Indonesian parliament to investigate fire-linked firms in Riau

Fire set for peatland clearing in Riau Province, Indonesia in July 2015. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

The Indonesian parliament will form a task force to look into the cancelling of investigations against 15 companies alleged to be complicit in fires in Riau, the country’s top palm oil producing province. Legislators made the announcement on Friday as burning in Sumatra and Kalimantan continued to spread, prompting emergency responses from authorities there. The fires are an […]
Company ordered to pay record $76m over fires in Sumatra
- The case concerned fires that burned across PT National Sago Prima’s concession in Indonesia’s Riau province in 2014.
- The company was deemed to have been negligent in failing to prevent the fires because it did not have the proper firefighting equipment and infrastructure on hand.
- The fires were also deemed to have damaged the environment and the economy.

Haze epicenter receives environmental award in Indonesia
- The government presented this year’s Adipura Awards in Siak, Riau province.
- The awards are usually handed out in Jakarta.
- Siak also won an Adipura Award, and it was the only district in Riau, which has traditionally been hard-hit by forest and peatland fires, to do so.

Fires begin to appear en masse as Indonesia’s burning season gets going
- Nearly 300 hotspots were detected over Sumatra and Kalimantan on Monday.
- By Wednesday, that number had dropped somewhat, though authorities said they expected the fires to increase as Indonesia enters the dry season.
- Police in Riau arrested a man for burning a small plot of land, while the NGO Walhi said authorities should focus on burning by large companies.

Peat expert dies from cancer after fighting Indonesian fires
- Suwido Limin was a longtime University of Palangkaraya professor who founded a volunteer firefighting brigade and spent two months in the field during last year’s haze crisis.
- After the fires last year, his condition worsened, and he was diagnosed with cancer in February.
- Limin, an ethic Dayak, also helped draft a regulation on indigenous rights in Central Kalimantan that has been submitted to the provincial government for approval.

Haze-stricken Malaysia proposes drastic new firefighting measures
- Malaysia is experiencing a record heatwave.
- Forest and peatland fires have sent haze into Kuala Lumpur, and contaminated the air elsewhere in the country.
- Near the capital, fires are burning in a giant illegal waste dump.

Jokowi bans new oil palm and mining concessions
- On Thursday, President Jokowi announced a freeze on new permits for oil palm cultivation and mining.
- Responses to the announcement were generally positive, although the major industry association for Indonesian palm oil wouldn’t comment on it specifically.
- Rapid oil palm expansion is eating away at the archipelago’s rainforests, contributing to the annual fires and haze problem.

Companies asked to pitch in to Indonesia’s peat restoration drive as early fires flare in Sumatra
- Twenty-two hotspots were spotted in Riau province on Thursday, with rain expected to quell them in mid-April.
- Central Kalimantan province, the worst-hit of last year’s fire and haze crisis, continues to suffer an urgent shortage of doctors, a local politician said.
- A prominent NGO official called on Jakarta to establish a dedicated agency to see through the all-important One Map initiative.

Indonesia’s oil palm maps remain hidden from public view. Why?
- In 2013, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil promised to publish its growers’ concession maps.
- That hasn’t happened, but the RSPO has pledged to make good on its commitment this year.
- Not everyone is on board with the initiative, however, and some doubt it will come to fruition. The public’s ability to monitor the industry hangs in the balance.

Norway pledges $50m to fund Indonesia’s peat restoration
- The pledge follows last year’s fire and haze disaster, which burned 2 million hectares of land, mostly peat, in the archipelago.
- The money will support the newly created Peat Restoration Agency.
- The U.S. government also pledged $17 million for peatland restoration in Indonesia’s Jambi province.

APP to work with 500 villages to combat deforestation
- Forestry giant Asia Pulp & Paper to put $10 million toward agroforestry cooperation with villages in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
- One NGO worker is cautiously optimistic about the plan.
- APP has been criticized for its alleged role in last year’s fire and haze disaster, which afflicted 500,000 Indonesians with respiratory problems.

Indonesia loses flagship case against company accused of burning
- A district court in South Sumatra threw out the Indonesian government’s case against PT Bumi Mekar Hijau.
- The pulp and paper company had been asked to pay a record sum in fines and reparations for causing peat fires in its concession.
- The ruling is a bad omen for those who hoped the decision would herald a raft of guilty verdicts against plantation companies seen as prime movers behind the annual pollution crisis.

Scientists turn up haze heat on Indonesia ahead of COP21 Paris talks
- Singapore’s deputy prime minister Teo Chee Hean met with the Indonesian president in Jakarta on Wednesday.
- An indigenous group in South Sumatra called on the local government to restrict development in the Musi River basin.
- Fires continue to burn in Merauke regency in Papua, the archipelago’s easternmost province.

Riau emergency status to end as S. Sumatra pledges peat clampdown
- Indonesia’s Riau province will drop its official state of emergency at the end of the month.
- The South Sumatra provincial government pledged to stop the granting of licenses on peat.
- Central Kalimantan’s acting governor said the local government did not have adequate plans in place to mitigate the risks of fires.

Haze compensation to poor stalls as Indonesia spends on new palm oil cartel
- Rain has reduced the number of hotspots in Kalimantan and Sumatra but fires continue to rage in Papua and West Papua provinces in Indonesia’s east.
- Indonesia’s finance ministry has yet to approve a budget for cash payments to low-income families affected by the haze.
- Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to form a palm oil producers council.

Fires smoulder and floods soak Sumatra as RSPO calls for palm oil reform
- Recent rain has brought a marked improvement to air pollution levels in most parts of the archipelago but localized spikes in wildfires continue to threaten air quality.
- The International Red Cross is implementing a three-month emergency response plan through January next year.
- An RSPO official calls on palm oil companies to make public all concession maps and plans for development on those concessions.

The impacts of haze on Southeast Asia’s wildlife
- Authorities and researchers are still shockingly ignorant of the ecological impacts of the smoke from Indonesia’s annual fires.
- Some creatures are likely finding it harder to sing, which is often crucial for attracting mates, defending territory and more.
- An orangutan disease called airsacculitis might be more prevalent during the smoky season.

VP Kalla fans flames in Manila as Indonesia presses on with water bombing
- Kalla made the exact same comments blaming foreign companies during a forestry summit in Jakarta in April.
- Satellite data from Global Forest Watch show more than 20 fires burning close to the mouths of the Lumpur and Mesuji rivers.
- Indonesian government water bombing operations continue to target smoldering peat fires in South Sumatra province.

From fires to floods: Indonesia’s disaster agency prepares for rain
- Singapore’s health ministry said it would end a government subsidy scheme for people in need of treatment from haze-related illnesses.
- Environmental pressure groups and NGOs met in Jakarta on Monday to discuss the government’s draft pledge to the UN climate summit.
- Researchers at King’s College London have been awarded a six-month grant by the Natural Environment Research Council.

Singapore calls end of haze this year as Indonesia continues to push peat plans
- The Indonesian government continues to work on enacting regulations to address the underlying causes of the annual fires.
- Vice president Jusuf Kalla said Indonesia would target 2-3 million hectares of peatland restoration by 2020.
- The government intends to form an agency for peatland restoration but has yet to decide on the specifics.

Jokowi turning over a new leaf for Indonesia on haze but details still foggy
- The president has ordered the damming of canals used to drain peat.
- Jokowi has yet to pass a presidential decree, known in Indonesia as a perppu, codifying these changes in law.
- Indonesia shipped a record 2.61 million metric tons of palm oil in October, with the month’s shipment to China rising 36%.

Indonesia bans peatlands destruction
- Indonesian president Joko Widodo has banned clearance and conversion of carbon-dense peatlands across the archipelago.
- A series of presidential and ministerial instructions bars planting of newly burned areas, instead mandating restoration.
- Notably the instructions ban clearance of peatlands even in existing concession areas.

Many Indonesia fires smoulder but danger is far from over
- Visibility declined in South Sumatra despite recent rain.
- Indonesian military personnel have found evidence of illegal logging in South Sumatra province.
- The government of the Philippines has cautioned that haze could return amid typhoon season.

Indonesian NGO takes aim at government for failure to handle haze
- Indonesian police have named 265 suspects in connection with this year’s forest fires.
- A spokesperson for Indonesia’s environment and forestry ministry told the BBC on Monday that the government had been “desperately working” to tackle the situation.
- Kontras has also criticized the longstanding practice of identifying suspects by initials.

Jokowi pushes universities to innovate to fight haze as respiratory diseases rise
- Indonesia’s ministry of higher education is attempting to create a research consortium on disaster management.
- Data from Indonesia’s disaster management agency showed the number of people diagnosed with acute respiratory infection increased to 556,945 by November 6.
- After a limited cabinet meeting on Wednesday to discuss peat management, Jokowi said he wanted the research department of Yogyakarta’s University of Gadjah Mada to play a central role in proposing Indonesia’s new peat strategy.

APP pumps South Africa specialists to join haze fire fight
- Working on Fire’s managing director for Asia-Pacific expressed confidence fires on APP supplier concessions could be extinguished soon.
- The South African program has hundreds of additional firefighters on standby.
- An NGO said it had seen more sightings of raptors over East Java after a slow October migration east.

Privatized gain, socialized pain; Singapore foreign minister turns up heat on haze
- Indonesia’s meteorology agency, the BMKG, forecast rain over large parts of Indonesia on Wednesday but data at 6 a.m. showed a spike in hotspots to 200.
- Indonesian media reported on Wednesday that a one-year-old girl had died in Palembang from respiratory disease.
- Singapore foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan: “This is a classic example of privatizing the gain and socializing the pain.”

Indonesia breathes easier for now as haze recedes and rain falls
- Air quality in most parts of Indonesia was improved Tuesday with further rain forecast on Wednesday.
- Detectives in Central Kalimantan continued their investigation on Tuesday into a fire at the finance department of the provincial government.
- Plantation firm PT Bumi Mekar Hijau, a supplier of Asia Pulp & Paper, was due at a hearing on Tuesday to answer charges of culpability over fires on its concessions in Ogan Komering Ilir regency.

Police investigate new hotspot at govt office in Palangkaraya as ‘important’ documents go up in smoke
- Air quality in all but one Indonesian provincial capital was below harmful levels on Monday morning.
- Police are investigating a fire at the finance department of the Central Kalimantan government that destroyed “important” documents.
- Military and volunteer first responders continue to battle fires in Java after four people died in East Java last week.

Jokowi pledges Indonesia peatland ‘revitalization’ to stop the burning
- President Jokowi and minister Luhut Pandjaitan have made increasingly robust pledges over the last week.
- The governor of East Java told Mongabay he had instructed officials to get on top of fires burning in areas hit by drought.
- Jambi Mayor Syarif Fasha said all health centers would be open 24 hours a day and equipped with oxygen cylinders that can be used or 20 minutes free of charge.

Indonesian wildfire disaster threatens virgin forest in Borneo
- Jokowi arrived in South Sumatra on Thursday to monitor the humanitarian and firefighting operation.
- Environment ministers from the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) grouping met in Vietnam on Thursday.
- In the U.S. a petition has been created calling on the Obama administration to send additional firefighting assets and relief workers.

Raja Ampat fires destroy livelihoods; Sumatrans suffer from drought amid haze
- Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla called on all Muslims to pray for rain on Wednesday and to ask God for “forgiveness, guidance and mercy.”
- An aide to Kalla said companies could announce force majeur if the government declared a national disaster.
- Malaysia continues to push Indonesia to adopt tube wells in its peatlands in Kalimantan and Riau.

Jokowi cuts U.S. trip short as Tuesday rain brings hope of haze respite
- Rain fell in some haze-hit regions on Tuesday, including in Banjarmasin, Berau, Jambi, Palangkaraya, Pontianak and Samarinda.
- The navy has allocated 11 vessels, including a floating hospital, to be on standby to evacuate people from areas experiencing dangerous air quality.
- One of Indonesia’s most-prominent NGOs is advocating an expansion of the archipelago’s community-forest program as an anti-haze measure.

Under-fire Jokowi prepares biggest shift yet in Indonesian haze
- Details are unclear on Jokowi’s policy on a moratorium for Indonesia’s peatlands.
- A draft commitment to ban drainage canals on peatlands will require adequate enforcement resources.
- Indonesia yet to hand Singapore information on companies it believes responsible for fires.

Indonesia readies shelter ships as haze last resort after #EvacuateUs hits Twitter
- #EvakuasiKami, or EvacuateUs, is the latest haze-related to topic to trend on Indonesian Twitter amid the country’s haze crisis.
- Pekanbaru has reopened shelters in the city in a desperate bid to provide some respite from the smoke.
- Local officials are specifically calling on parents to bring infants and young children to three 24-hour centers in Riau province..

Jokowi hints at company crackdown as Kalimantan residents prepare haze class action suit
- Residents in West Kalimantan have banded together to file a lawsuit against the government over pollution.
- Jokowi has said companies need to take “greater responsibility.”
- An Indonesian resort plans to offer “more underwater activities” to manage the impact of annual pollution from fires and hotspots.

Kalimantan politicians wear facemasks inside parliament as Palangkaraya suffers in silence
- Indonesia’s measure of pollution recorded air in Palangkarya at more than 10 times the level regarded as dangerous on Tuesday.
- Schools in the Central Kalimantan capital were closed again on Tuesday.
- Politicians in the provincial parliament sat in silence wearing face masks after smoke entered the building.

Papua fires send haze to Micronesia; Indonesia elections commission hints at environment debate
- The Guam Department for Homeland Security released a health warning after smog reached western Micronesia.
- Indonesia’s elections commission is facing calls to increase the prominence of the environment in election debates and prepare more information on candidates’ environmental credentials.
- Schools in Malaysia will remain closed on Tuesday while breathing air in Singapore remained in the “unhealthy” range Monday.

Indonesian healthcare in focus as haze worsens; NASA data show Papua ablaze
- Indonesian politician Fahira Idris called on health authorities to carry out additional diagnostic checks on infants.
- Data from a NASA satellite show hundreds of fires have burned in Papua over the last week.
- The minster in charge of Indonesia haze operation said the situation deteriorated Friday as air quality in Palangkaraya descended to dangerous levels.

Aircraft fight Sumatran fires as Indonesian minister looks to counter no-deforestation pledges
- Indonesia and Malaysia are finalizing details on establishing the Council of Palm Oil Producer Countries.
- The new intergovernmental association will look to counter the wave of no-deforestation commitments sweeping the industry as a result of NGO and consumer pressure, a senior minister said.
- A move to roll back zero-deforestation would be tricky for the major firms that have adopted the pledges.

Indonesia hints at possible peatland license review as haze firefight continues
- Burning peatlands in Ogan Komering Ilir continue as the frontline for the international firefighting effort in South Sumatra.
- Another Indonesian politician has called on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to declare the haze pollution a national disaster.
- Indonesia’s home affairs minister has hinted the archipelago may make greater effort to protect peatlands in Kalimantan and Sumatra.

‘Blue Sky Revolution’ in Pekanbaru as haze protesters demand brighter days ahead
- Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of #RevolusiLangitBiru protesters gathered in Riau to make their voices heard against the annual haze pollution.
- Singapore’s consumer association said on Monday that it had received sustainability pledges from 38 of the 3,000 companies to whom it had written.
- The Indonesian social affairs minister said the ministry had forwarded compensation proposals from six of seven provinces to the Finance Ministry.

Haze compensation details unclear as help arrives in Sumatra
- Details on Indonesia’s plans to compensate low-income families affected by the haze remain unclear.
- Joko Widodo arrived in Riau a day after cancelling his trip to the region.
- Another Indonesian politician called for the president to announce a national disaster.

Haze cancels Jokowi haze visit as greater cooperation looms
- Joko Widodo was forced to cancel a planned trip to Jambi due to poor visibility.
- Singapore’s banks will have to publish sustainable lending policies on their websites and annual reports from 2017.
- Supermarkets in Singapore began to remove products supplied by Asia Pulp & Paper.

Singapore request for haze information tricky for Indonesia
- A formal request by Singapore to the Indonesian government for information on companies will be politically difficult for Jakarta.
- Eyes on the Forest coalition tells Jakarta to take stronger action against companies.
- Thai junta leader signals kingdom to become more involved at ASEAN level after haze blankets several Thai provinces.

Indonesia says doing all it can as neighbors ready new haze measures
- Indonesia’s disaster chief said the government is doing “the best we can” to combat fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra.
- Singapore’s banking association will soon announce new lending guidelines in a bid to introduce greater environmental criteria in lending decisions.
- Malaysia will draft new laws to enable the country to prosecute foreign companies responsible for haze.

Malaysia PM turns up heat on Indonesia as Australian firm faces fires probe
- Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak tells Indonesia to “take action” as schools across his country are shut.
- Indonesia’s probe into an Australian plantation subsidiary continues as police expects investigators to return as soon as Tuesday.
- Singapore’s air quality moderates but southeasterly winds push haze into Thailand.

‘Maybe that’s why there’s so many fires’: Was a peat swamp illegitimately stripped of protected status in Indonesia?
- An oil palm company’s concession in Central Kalimantan is said to lie on a stretch of deep peat that was removed from Indonesia’s forestry moratorium based on an erroneous government survey.
- The concession is now full of fires, fueling the haze crisis that is contaminating the air in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
- A presidential unit on development oversight was investigating the concession last year until it was disbanded by the new president in December.

Singapore takes legal action against 5 Indonesian companies over haze
- Singapore has served APP and four smaller companies with legal notices over fires burning in their concessions in Indonesia.
- Fires across Sumatra have sent haze into neighboring Singapore, polluting the air.
- Indonesia is also investigating more than 100 companies in connection with the fires.

As haze chokes Sumatra, farmers ask Jokowi for greater land rights
- The haze crisis is serving as an occasion for Indonesian farmers who argue that companies bear prime responsibility for the agriculture fires raging across the country to demand greater land rigthts, promised by Jokowi when he ran for president last year.
- They demonstrated in Jakarta, Riau and South Sumatra last week, unfurling 50-meter-long banners expressed their readiness to protect peatlands and forests from fire.
- Some say a misguided perception among officials that local people are lazy has stood in the way of agrarian reform.

In haze-choked Palangkaraya, air quality five times ‘hazardous’ levels
- As fires burning across Indonesia blanket the region in a noxious haze, President Joko Widodo traveled to Kalimantan to observe disaster mitigation efforts there.
- The air quality has been contaminated in Central Kalimantan more than anywhere else in the country, yet residents feel the central government has paid more attention to the fires in Sumatra because haze from there is blowing into Malaysia and Singapore.
- Activists call for the government to stop permitting oil palm companies to operate on peat, which must be drained and dried out – which makes it like a tinderbox – before it can be planted with certain crops.

Many solutions to Southeast Asia’s haze problem proposed, but no end in sight
- Calls for a boycott were quickly met with criticisms that a boycott is unlikely to work and could even be counterproductive.
- WWF Singapore and the People’s Movement to Stop Haze (PM.Haze) have teamed up with the Singapore Institute for International Affairs to create the #XtheHaze campaign.
- Indonesia’s Intended Nationally-Determined Contribution (INDC) submission ahead of UN climate talks does not include a zero deforestation pledge.

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