Risk of hazy conditions across Southeast Asia, as Indonesia battles wildfires amid prolonged dry season

EL NINO INCREASES RISK OF VEGETATION FIRE

“What we need at this point in time would be a combination of preventative actions and proactive responses, which would mean that we should have increased cooperation between countries in terms of exchanging information about haze events and the potential health impacts,” said Provost’s Chair Professor Rajasekhar Balasubramanian of the National University of Singapore’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. 

“So we should have increased transparency. At the same time, we also have to warn the public why it is important to protect their health against inhalation exposure to particles.”

According to climate updates, El Nino is expected to become more serious in the next two months. 

“The El Nino weather phenomenon is strongly associated with drier and hotter conditions. At the same time, we also have very little rainfall during El Nino,” Prof Bala told CNA’s Asia Now on Monday (Sep 4). 

This drier climate condition increases the risk of peatland and vegetation fires, and “could trigger the occurrence of transboundary smoke haze, which could affect the entire Southeast Asia, including Singapore”, he added.