Asian Fires Raise Respiratory Risk
10/9/97
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Headline: Asian Fires Raise Respiratory Risk
Source: Reuters
Date: 10/9/97
Copyright 1997 by Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuter) - Smog and smoke from massive fires in
Southeast Asia is choking residents with the equivalent of
smoking two packs of cigarettes per day, the World Wildlife Fund
said Thursday.
Almost 2 million acres in Southeast Asia have burned in the
past several months, spewing a thick, yellow haze that threatens
the health of people, plants and animals, the group said in a
new report.
Similar fires are occurring in Brazil, but in lightly
populated areas where they get less attention, the report said.
``Much of the blame for the current crisis should rest at
the feet of timber barons and plantation owners in Southeast
Asia and Brazil, who have systematically cleared and degraded
these vast, diverse rain forests,'' said Don Henry, head of the
group's global forest program.
``It's not only trees that are burning, but entire
ecosystems, from the smallest plant to the largest mammal,'' he
said.
Indonesia has called upon its army to help fight the fires,
which have blanketed Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the
Philippines with smog. The Indonesian government has revoked the
licenses of some 29 companies for setting fires to clear the
land.
Indonesia President Suharto recently apologized to other
nations in the region for the fire-generated smog and described
it as an unprecedented natural disaster.
The World Wildlife Fund report recommended that governments
ban the use of fire for clearing land and prevent the conversion
of natural forests to single species plantations. It also urged
a halt to logging concessions planned for Borneo and the Amazon
and Congo basis.
An estimated 1.9 million acres of rainforest in Southeast
Asia is currently burning, the worst fires in the area for 15
years, the environmental group said. Animals at risk from the
fires in Indonesia include the Sumatran tiger and the Asian
elephant.
The vast extent of the blaze means that some 20 million
people are in danger of respiratory problems because they are
inhaling the equivalent of two packs of cigarettes each day, the
report said.
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