Haze

Haze is traditionally an atmospheric phenomenon where dust, smoke and other dry particles obscure the clarity of the sky.

What are the causes of haze?



Sources for haze particles include farming (ploughing in dry weather), traffic, industry, and wildfires. In Singapore, haze comes from the burning of plantations in neighboring country Indonesia. The haze would float towards Singapore from Indonesia through winds as it is the North-East Monsoon and the wind would blow North-East towards us.

What are the complications of haze?


Health of people would be affected, especially for people with health complications. Some people who have Asthma have an endangered life as the haze would affect their breathing. Visibility is also affected, thus resulting in hundreds of flights cancelled due to the haze, which makes the airplanes unable to navigate and touchdown/liftoff. Haze not only affects the health of citizens, but also affect the economy of neighboring countries and is thus a hazard.

Solutions

As the 2011 chair of ASEAN, Indonesia has an ambitious plan to implement a haze agreement this year. Land and forest fires are normally massive in dry season with its haze reached neighboring nations such as Singapore and Malaysia, making it the only member in the region that has not ratified the haze treaty since it was sanctioned in 2003. 

The agreement binds statutory countries to take steps to stop haze pollution from land and forest fires within their territories, through strict regulations, heat-seeking satellites and firefighting training. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has set a target to cut 20 percent of hotspots per year.