The one-year break from the annual smog may just be over as dry weather sets in and peat fires begin to smoulder. It’s time to brace for the haze, writes ELIZABETH JOHN.
THE fires are already smouldering, the acrid smell of smoke is faint but present, and the weather report for the next few months says: dry, dry, and dry.
The air is thick with all the hallmarks of the haze, that almost-annual event that leaves thousands sneezing, wheezing and waving a fist at neighbours across the straits.
Last year, Malaysia enjoyed a little respite from the smog.
La Nina, the bratty little sister of El Nino, brought unusually wet weather and helped the country breathe easy.
As the little Miss weakens, the country will experience what it rightfully should at this time of the year: minimal rainfall from June to August.
From last week, several hundred hotspots began popping up on satellite images of the region over the past week.
On Wednesday, the Air Pollutant Index for Port Klang saw a sudden lurch, close to the unhealthy mark.
“The past few days were bad, Tuesday and Wednesday especially,” said Muslim Susanto Kurniawan of the Riau-based group Jikalahari.
“The whole district was blanketed in smoke and about three or four days ago, you couldn’t see anything in the morning,” he said, describing the situation in Pekanbaru, the provincial capital of Riau.
Muslim and Jikalahari are helping to run a community fire-fighting project funded by the Malaysian group, Global Environment Centre (GEC), and are carrying out a haze assessment as well.
There had been several fires in the second week of May, Muslim told the New Sunday Times, in places like Pelawan, Siak, Rokan Hilir and Inderagiri Hilir.
“But the police have been out warning people about the penalties for starting fires. It’s been raining here, too, so things are better now,” he said in a telephone interview on Thursday.
Most of the haze that chokes peninsular Malaysia’s west coast cities and towns is blown across the Straits of Malacca from peat and brush fires in the Riau region.
This region holds Sumatra’s biggest storehouse of peatland – over four million hectares in 2003, according to Muslim’s report for GEC.
In just over half a decade since 2002, the region has lost over one million hectares of forests, much of it peat, says the report.
One problem, says Muslim, is the dry weather. This is made worse by the a lack of fire-fighting equipment in many high risk remote areas.
The other, larger problem, says Muslim, is that slash-and-burn is the preferred method to clear land.
It’s fast and it’s cheap.
Based on data from MODIS, a satellite-based imaging system, Jikalahari detected 86,883 hotspots in Riau between 2001 and this February.
Of these, 77 per cent were on smouldering peatland.
The bulk of hotspots, said the report, were in deep peat areas where fires could burn uncontrolled and unseen for long periods.
Most hotspots detected were located in forest plantations and palm oil estates, added the report.
“It’s really disappointing that this happens every year,” says the Pekanbaru native.
“But often, people have either no other equipment to clear land with or they get paid to do it this way by landowners,” he says.
It’s not all bad news though.
Groups like GEC have put in place programmes that teach villagers to keep vigil for fires and how to combat them.
These are kicking in now, says Muslim.
In Riau, the local government has begun intensive talks with plantation companies, farmers and villagers since the fires sparked early this month, says Heddy Mukna.
Heddy, the chief of the Indonesian Environment Ministry’s Forest Fire division, told the New Sunday Times that the Riau authorities were working hard to increase awareness, telling people that the dry season was setting in and fires could start easily.
But he’s only seen this in Riau, said Heddy. Last week, the areas most badly affected by fires were in West Kalimantan, in oil palm plantations and farms.
Those hotspots were cooled by a welcome bout of heavy rain and some fire-fighting efforts, said Heddy, a bit of a lucky break.
Which is probably why neither Malaysian nor Indonesian authorities are willing to predict how bad this round of haze may be.
“At the moment, the situation is okay but the next few months will be very dry,” said Heddy, repeating the warning Malaysian authorities gave the public on Friday.
He sounds hopeful as he speaks of areas that have enough fire-fighting equipment.
But he adds that the Indonesian authorities are bracing for a battle as a lot of hotspots are in very remote areas.
“The problem is there is no infrastructure there and no way to reach them.”
The Meteorological Department says:
FROM NOW TILL SEPTEMBER
Malaysia is now experiencing the southwest monsoon. This usually sets in around May and lasts till September.
During this time, the atmosphere is stable, there is less cloud development and the weather is drier.
There will be the occasional thunderstorm or shower but the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting models show that the west coast states of peninsular Malaysia will get minimum rainfall from June to August.
This is normal for this period as June, July and August are the drier months of the year.
The northwestern areas of the peninsula and the coastal areas of Sabah are expected to get less than normal rainfall.
Only Sarawak’s interior is likely to get more than the norm.
THE LA NINA CONNECTION
When the La Nina phenomenon occurs, Malaysia generally receives more rain than normal, up to 20 per cent more.
This is what the country experienced last year.
Recent patterns indicate that La Nina is weakening and so weather conditions will return to normal from June to August.
For the next few months, most areas in Malaysia will receive the amount of rain they normally get at this time, which is very little.