1997 Indonesian forest fires

none April 2016 April 2016 thumb|350px|Air pollution over Southeast Asia in October 1997 The 1997 group of forest fires in Indonesia that lasted well into 1998 were probably among the two or three, if not the largest, forest fires group in the last two centuries of recorded history. In the middle of 1997 forest fires burning in Indonesia began to affect neighbouring countries, spreading thick clouds of smoke and haze to Malaysia and Singapore. Then Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad searched desperately for a solution,New Straits Times - Nov 8, 1997 and based on a plan by the head of the Malaysian fire and rescue department sent a team of Malaysian firefighters across to Indonesia under code name Operation Haze. This is to mitigate the effect of the Haze to Malaysia economy. The value of the Haze damage to Malaysian GDP is estimated to be 0.30 per cent.Indonesia's Fires and Haze: The Cost of Catastrophe By David Glover, Timothy Jessup, page 46 Seasonal rains in early December brought a brief respite but soon after the dry conditions and fires returned. By late 1997 and early 1998 Brunei, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Sri LankaJim C.Y. Geography Vol. 84, No. 3 (The Forest Fires in Indonesia 1997-98: Possible Causes and Pervasive Consequences) 255 1999 Geographical Association had also felt the haze from the smoke of the forest fires. By the time the 1997–98 forest fires were finally over some 8 million hectares of land had burned while countless millions of people suffered from air pollution. Causes and effect 1997 Southeast Asian haze The 1997 Indonesian forest fires were caused by changing land use which made the tropical forest vulnerable to fire during a drought associated with that year's El Niño. Indonesian forests have historically been resistant to burning even during long dry seasons and despite the use of fire to clear land for swidden agriculture. The land use changes that led to the fires were a combination of industrial-scale logging, draining peatlands for conversion to oil palm and fast-growing tree plantations, and a massive government program to drain swamps and convert them to rice paddies.https://books.google.com/books?id=WWx6rgEACAAJ Why Forests? Why Now?: The Science, Economics, and Politics of Tropical Forests and Climate Change Seymour Frances Busch Jonah 2016 Center for Global Development 9781933286853 en A total of 240 people perished in the wildfires.Chapter 3 It Only Takes A Spark: The Hazard of Wildfires https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/ND-Review-Chapter-3.pdf Brookings.edu 24 July 2018 Due to the heavy smoke caused by the fires, an Airbus A300 operating as Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 crashed on approach to Medan's Polonia Airport. All 234 people on board died, making it the worst crash in Indonesian history. 1997-09-27 234 Are Killed in Indonesian Airliner Crash https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-sep-27-mn-36596-story.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20220925221104/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-sep-27-mn-36596-story.html September 25, 2022 2024-08-18 Los Angeles Times en-US Estimated cost The total economic value of the damages is conservatively estimated to be US$4.47 billion, of which by far the largest share was borne by Indonesia.https://books.google.com/books?id=eMBu_rXSq3QC&q=1997+indonesia+forest+fire+causes&pg=PR5 Indonesia's Fires and Haze: The Cost of Catastrophe Glover David 2006 IDRC 9781552503324 en This figure excludes a number of damages that are especially difficult to measure or to value in monetary terms, such as loss of human life, long-term health impacts, and some biodiversity losses. Forest fires in Indonesia in 1997 were estimated to have released between 0.81 and 2.57 gigatonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, which is between 13 and 40% of the annual carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels.The global impact of Indonesian forest fires https://web.archive.org/web/20150518071926/http://climate.ncas.ac.uk/people/allan/Seasonal_Forecasting_papers/harrison_09_global_impact_indonesian_forest_fires.pdf 18 May 2015 , Mark E Harrison, Susan E Page, and Suwido H Limin, Biologist, Volume 56 Number 3, August 2009Indonesia Rainforest Fires Doubled CO2 Levels Globally, Cat Lazaroff, Albion Monitor, 5 November 2002 As part of steps taken to avoid the recurring of the Haze, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) approved the need for an early warning system in the Regional Haze Action Plan (RHAP) in 1998 to prevent forest fires and the resulting haze through improved management policies and enforcements, example via Fire Danger Rating System (FDRS).http://www.wamis.org/agm/meetings/wofire08/S2-Zaki_Malaysia.pdf OPERATIONAL FDR IN MALAYSIA AND ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIA NATIONS 31 March 2012 15 December 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221215130641/http://www.wamis.org/agm/meetings/wofire08/S2-Zaki_Malaysia.pdf dead Countries affected Indonesia Singapore Malaysia Thailand Brunei Vietnam Philippines Sri Lanka See also Air quality index Pollutant Standards Index Haze 2005 Malaysian haze 2006 Southeast Asian haze Slash and burn Asian brown cloud 1997 Southeast Asian haze 2015 Southeast Asian haze 2026 Indonesia wildfires 2026 Southeast Asian haze General: List of disasters in Indonesia References External links Investigating the haze transport from 1997 biomass burning in Southeast Asia: Its impact upon Singapore : Asia The Asian Forest Fires of 1997-1998 The 1997-98 Air Pollution Episode in Southeast Asia Generated by Vegetation Fires in Indonesia RAND news.mongabeay.com www.mongabay.com/08indo_fires.htm Indonesia's fires and haze Av David Glover, Timothy Jessup, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, International Development Research Centre (Canada) Update On Hotspots And Forest Fires In Sumatra https://web.archive.org/web/20131018010909/http://aprildialog.com/2013/09/05/update-on-hotspots-and-forest-fires-in-sumatra/ 18 October 2013 Forest fires in Indonesia Category:Air pollution by region Category:Air pollution in Malaysia Category:Environmental disasters in Asia Category:Environment of Singapore Category:Health in Singapore Category:Health disasters in Malaysia Category:Fires in Indonesia Category:1990s fires in Asia Category:1997 fires Category:1997 in the environment Category:Southeast Asian haze Category:1997 disasters in Malaysia Category:1997 disasters in Indonesia