4.

Unsolved Problem: Haze in

Southeast Asia
4.1. Discovery of Problem

(A heavy haze hanging over Orchard Road on Oct 10, 1972.

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/haze-in-singapore-aproblem-dating-back-40-years)
The Southeast Asian Haze is a regular occurrence in South East Asian
countries such as Singapore, Thailand and Brunei. It usually happens during
the dry season yearly. Based on past records, the issue has been existent
from 1972. (http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/haze-insingapore-a-problem-dating-back-40-years)
The main cause is illegal fires using the slash and burn technique at
peatlands and forests on Indonesia's Sumatra island and the Indonesian part
of Borneo. This is to quickly and cheaply clear land for future plantations
such as palm oil plantation to cater the large global demand for palm oil.

Indonesia is the largest producer and exporter of palm oil worldwide,

producing 32.5 million tons in the previous year. (http://www.indonesiainvestments.com/business/commodities/palm-oil/item166) Palm oil is used in
the manufacturing of goods including household and food products like
cosmetics and margarine.
The outbreak in 1997 is regarded as the most serious haze, setting a PSI
record of 226. It followed rapid expansion of plantations that occurred along
with the El Nino effect, making conditions dry.

4.2. Definition of Problem

4.2.1. Causes of the haze:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asian_haze
Caused by illegal agricultural fires on an industrial-scale, the slash and burn
technique is the commonly used method to clear the land and it is a cheaper
and faster alternative compared to the use of excavators and other
machines. The burnt land can be sold at a higher price illegally as the land
becomes more fertile due to the resulting ashes fertilizing the soil.

4.2.2. Impacts of the haze

4.2.2.1. Health issues:
https://www.healthhub.sg/live-healthy/327/impact_haze_on_health
4.2.2.1.1. Short-term Issues
The short-term health issues consist of irritation of the eyes, nose and
throats. The haze particles can affect heart and lungs, especially for those
who have history of heart or lung problems such as asthma, heart failure.
4.2.2.1.2. Long-term Issues
Although the haze only affects Singapore for a short window of time, studies
show that in the long term, one might have higher risk of heart attacks,
reduction in lung development and development of chronic respiratory
disease such as asthma in children.

4.2.2.2. Drop in Tourism which affects Singapore GDP

Based on Chua Hak Bin, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in
Singapore.
He states that some countries are starting to send travel warning about
Singapore and Malaysia due to the haze. The impacted is estimated between
0.1 per cent to 0.4 per of the gross domestic product.
In 1997, the haze cost Singapore $300 million, where in 2013, it led to
about $50million of losses. This finding is based on a research by Euston
Quah, a professor and head of the economics division at Nanyang
Technological University.

http://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/singapore-gdp-will-take-hitfrom-haze-as-countries-issue-travel-warnings
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Businesses and analysts have warned that the longer the problem persists,
the higher the cost will be for the overall economy.
"Tourism-related sectors such as retails sales, hotels, food and beverage, and
gaming, these will take a hit," Joey Wong of Barclays told the BBC.
Tourism is a one of the main drive which supports Singapores economy is
estimated to bring about 5-6% of the total economic output in Singapore.
The last time the city-state was hit by such bad haze in 1997, tourist arrivals
dropped by nearly 15% in a month.
According to a report by Barclays, there are indications that some tourists
have already started to cut short their stay in Singapore and some have even
cancelled their bookings.
Ms Wong said while it was too early to estimate the overall impact of the
haze on the industry, the cost for the sector could be between $200m $400m (130m - 260m) if there was an 8% to 10% drop in arrivals.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-22999205

4.2.2.3. Drop in Businesses Sales

Individual businesses for big and small companies have taken a hit during
the haze
4.2.2.3.1. Case 1
Ying Yang bar, Mr Harie is trying to find a way to get customers back. He
says that his firm, which runs various other outlets, has proposed hosting
clients indoors but customers have been reluctant to take up those offers.
"We are trying to lure them with all sort of promotional rates and offers, but
few people are willing to come out in this kind of a haze." He said that if
bookings did not pick up the bar could be looking at about S$20,000 to
S$25,000 in lost revenue just for Friday night.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-22999205

4.2.2.3.2. Case 2
Miss Nicole Robert, 21, an employee of South Coast, an Australian bistro and
bar at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, said that there was a 20 per cent
drop in customers during the peak lunch hours yesterday.
http://www.tnp.sg/news/singapore-news/haze-spoils-experience-touristssingapore
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-22999205
Based on the articles and scenarios due to the haze, lesser tourists are
willing to come to Singapore which means lesser spending and lesser
revenue received by hotels (as stated in the article which mentioned
cancellation of hotel bookings and the issue of travel warnings which deters
tourist from coming to Singapore), shops etc. The drop in the number of
Singaporean heading out leads to a fall in domestic consumption as people
are less willing to expose themselves to the haze as it brings about health
issues. This is evident based on the scenarios which states a drop in
customer from various sector such as dining and retail. Both of these will
affect the countrys economy.
In addition, the haze also causes health problems and may lead to more
health complication if there is a prolonged exposure to it.
Therefore, the haze is indeed a problem as it brings about health problems
and a drop in the countrys economy.

4.3. Generating solutions

4.3.1. Fire-fighting efforts
Large-scale fire-fighting efforts has been made in Indonesia, in order to
combat the haze-emitting fire. Indonesia has been dumping millions of litres
of water in affected areas and has sent in the army to help firefighters put
out the fires. Around 3000 military personnel along with various cloudseeding aircraft to simulate rainfall has been sent to south Sumatra (XiaoZhi
Lim, 2015). It has also accepted help in the form of fire-fighting teams and
military equipment from several countries including Russia and Singapore
(BBC, 2016).
Although large-scale fighting effort has been conducted, Indonesian
authorities still struggle to put out the fires. That is due to the nature of peat
fire, which is very different from normal forest fire. Peats smolder like coal,
and thus, they are always burning. Hence, when the situation is just right,
the peats will then catch into fire. Peat fire is difficult to put out as it can burn
underground for months with no detection, and requires a lot of water and
manpower to extinguish. Fires can spread underground and spring up in
other places later (Usup et al., 2004).
The reason why Indonesian authorities efforts were not effective is probably
due to the area of peatlands. Peat swamp forests are major ecosystem in
Indonesia, representing more than half of all known peatlands in the tropical
zone, with an area ranging from 1627 million ha (Sorensen, 1993). This
amount of area is correlated with the distribution of forest-fire source,
according to various studies. In 2009, 40% of forest fire happens in peatlands
(Miettinen, Chenghua and Chin Liew, 2010). This means that a lot of forestfire happens in peatlands, and thus it is very hard to extinguish.

4.3.2. Preventing forest fires.

Another method to stop the haze-releasing fire is to discourage the culprit
from burning down the forest at the first place. There are multiple forms of
deterrents, such as law and social norms. These deterrents work by ensuring
that slash-and-burn technique is no longer possible without consequences.
By law, it is illegal to clear land with the slash and burn technique.
Infringement of the law will lead to heavy penalties such as long jail terms
and hefty fines. According to Law 32/2009 of Republic of Indonesia, its illegal
for every person to use the slash-and-burn technique. For those who break
the law, they will receive a fine as many as 3 to 10 billion Rupiah and jailed
for 3-10 years. This law, in theory, should be enough to deter culprits from
using the slash-and-burn technique.
However, in real situations, it is difficult to pinpoint the company that is
responsible for the fires. Last year, police investigated on 18 companies
suspected of causing forest fires, but only three went to courts. Eventually,
the three companies were acquitted and no one was confirmed to be the
cause of the fire.
(http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/indonesia-callson/2980490.html)
The persistence of the forest fires is also credited to weak enforcement
efforts and corruption despite severe penalties such as heavy fines. In
Indonesia, corruption is very rampant on public sector, with justice service
sectors included. Non-Governmental Organizations in Indonesia report that
corruption dominates each stage of the Indonesian justice cycle (Lateef, S et
al., 2003). In 2001, Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia
published a national survey which indicated that the Indonesian judiciary and
public prosecution service were ranked among the most corrupt and least
efficient institutions in Indonesia.
It is only earlier this year, President Joko Widodo claimed that Indonesia has
deployed more than 10,000 police and soldiers in its enforcement attempts
(http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35770490), Investigations on suspicious
companies are also ongoing

4.3.3. Creating alternatives to palm oil

Palm oil is the major contributor of the slash-and-burn technique usage, due
to the industrys size. Palm oil production, according to Index Mundi in 2014,
Indonesia is ranked first on estimated oil production, with 33,000,000. Also,
according to the figures on table 1, palm oil industry is enjoying a robust

growth, seen by the increasing trend. (Indonesian Palm Oil Producers

Association (GAPKI) & Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture)
Table 1: Indonesian Palm Oil Production and Export Statistics.
200
8

200
9

201
0

201
1

201
2

201
3

201
4

201
5

201
6

Production

19.
2

19.
4

21.
8

23.
5

26.
5

30.
0

31.
5

32.
5

32

Export (million
tons)

15.
1

17.
1

17.
1

17.
6

18.
2

22.
4

21.
7

26.
4

27.
0

Export (in USD

Billion)

15.
6

10.
0

16.
4

20.
2

21.
6

20.
6

21.
1

18.
6

18.
6

The growth of palm oil industry might be disastrous for environment, since
opening palm oil plantations usually uses slash-and-burn technique. In fact,
slash-and-burn technique is mainly used to open oil plantation in Indonesia
(Rally, Heather. 2016).
Thus, if we can innovate a new alternative to replace palm, we might be able
to lower the number of slash-and-burn technique. The palm oils substitute,
fortunately, is not far off from reality. Scientists at University of Bath has
found a strain of yeast, Metschnikowia pulcherrima, that can spawn oil
similar to palm oil. (The Guardian, 2015)

4.4. Proposed solution

From the solutions above, we believe that through implementing both firefighting strategy and forest fire prevention measures, the haze-causing fire
can be stopped. These two techniques, combined, will be able to stop the
existing fire, and prevent future fires. Hence, the haze production can be
halted.
The idea is fighting the fire to extinguish to existing fire, and thus stopping
the production of haze. And then, after the fire is quenched, we create
preventive measures that stop people from using slash-and-burn technique,
so that there will not be forest fire again in the future.
We believe that by implementing two solutions that complement each other,
the solution will be much more effective, since it can work together to solve
the problem. This is especially useful to solve complex problems, such as
Southeast Asia Haze problem.
Right now, both of those solutions still do not work well, shown by the fact
that the haze is still a rampant problem. The reason is that theres an issue,
disconnecting current situation with the solution. The issues are already

mentioned in the previous chapter. Logistics are an issue for fighting the fire,
and corruption is an issue for preventing the fire.
However, in the future, we see that these two solutions are the best bet for
solving this problem, because it can tackle the root of the problem: the fire.
For it to succeed, we just need to innovate new ways of dealing with
peatlands fire, and to solve Indonesias corruption problem.

4.5. Lessons Gleaned

During the process of brainstorming the problem, we realized that the haze is
a very complex problem with a lot of levels in it. The problem is not only tied
to the fire itself, but tied to a lot of things: corruptions, climate change,
businesses strategy, and a lot of other things. From that we learned couple
of things:
Firstly, we learned that solving complex problems is not easy. Although we
find solutions that are suitable, the solution itself might has separate issues
that needed to be solved, before able to be implemented.
Secondly, we realized that any problem will never be resolved if we do not
help each other. For this problem, Indonesia is still a growing country with a
lot of problems besides of haze, thus they need help from other countries to
solve the haze problem. We also realized this when we attempted to do the
group project. If we do not work together, we will never be able to finish this
project well.

Lastly,
we learned that innovation is needed to solve problems,
especially when the problem is complex and multi-layered.