Driftspace
A surge in wildfires across Indonesia has blanketed large parts of Southeast Asi
A surge in wildfires across Indonesia has blanketed large parts of Southeast Asia in toxic haze, with scientists linking the severity to a strengthening El Niño event that the United Nations this week described as potentially the most intense in four decades. Nearly 300,000 hectares have burned so far this year, and carbon released by fires in one week of late August exceeded what was emitted during the same period in 2015 — itself a notably severe fire year. Slash-and-burn land-clearing practices on top of drought conditions have worsened the crisis. Dense smoke spread to Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, where air pollution in the Manila area was recorded at more than fifteen times the World Health Organization's recommended limit, prompting school closures and health alerts. Multiple countries are affected, but the fires are mostly within one nation's borders. When pollution from wildfires in one country harms the health of people in another, who do you think should bear responsibility for addressing it?