IF we dig up the untold story of the haze, we will find evidence that it is another case of the struggle between development and the environment.
A fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia at UCSI University, who worked in Indonesia, concluded that it’s the result of the slash-and-burn practice.
But who is doing it? His study has evidence that it is not the work of oil palm or timber companies, but that of farmers.
They have been doing it for years. It is normal when clearing up new land as it’s the most economical way.
However, we need to understand why farmers do it. According to the study, they do it as a matter of livelihood, clearing land to plant crops.
In many parts of remote Indonesia, there is no such thing as a land title.
What you clear is what you own. I believe at one time this was also the case in Malaysia, especially in Sabah and Sa-rawak.
So farmers in Sumatra would clear up jungle land to claim ownership and perhaps sell it.
Burning is the cheapest way to get rid of the cleared vegetation.
In parts of Kalimantan, peat areas are cleared to plant rice. And the best time to clear the areas is during the dry season when burning is easy.
Of course, open burning impacts the environment and has health implications.
What we do not see is the
massive amount of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, that is released into the atmosphere.
Some have estimated that the greenhouse gas emissions from the current haze have exceeded the total emission in one year from the United States.
Experts say the burning of the peat is more environmentally damaging.
While some Norwegian countries have long practised the burning of peat for energy generation, it is not encouraged here. This is because temperate peat is different in character from tropical peat.
Forest fires are not unique to our part of the world. In the recent Amazon burning, the Brazilian president blamed it on environmental non-governmenta organisations.
However, he could not produce evidence of that claim.
It is clear that the haze is a demonstration of the dilemma facing the poor.
Farmers suffer more from the haze.
But what choice do they have? It is their livelihood. We cannot stop such practices unless we can offer them a better livelihood.
After scouring the literature on biomass to energy technologies, there may be a green solution for farmers.
This technology involves converting biomass into briquettes for burning to produce energy.
This is practised in the palm oil industry where biomass from empty fruit bunches is made into briquettes for export to Japan and South Korea.
What is needed is a mobile briquette converter to be placed on site.
Once an area is cleared, farmers should be encouraged to plant fast-growing biomass species like petai belalang, which can be briquetted in the same way and sold to biomass power plants.
This way, farmers will have an income and the haze will disappear.
ROFESSOR DR AHMAD IBRAHIM
Fellow, Academy of Sciences Malaysia, UCSI University