Southeast Asia’s ‘red alert’ haze fight faces economic test

A potentially dangerous haze season looms for Southeast Asia, as rising energy and fertiliser costs threaten to weaken fire-prevention efforts just as extreme weather patterns raise the risk of forest and land blazes.

Analysts warn that agricultural companies facing pressure from higher production costs may cut corners on sustainable land-clearing practices, including by using fire instead of machinery.

The warning comes as the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) issued a rare “red alert” for Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in its latest haze outlook, signalling a high risk of severe transboundary haze.

While weather conditions such as El Nino, a longer dry season and conditions in the Indian Ocean posed an immediate threat, pressure on planters threatened to compound the haze problem in the longer run, the report warned.

At the launch of the findings on Wednesday, SIIA chairman Simon Tay said energy disruption caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iran war had raised production costs for planters by about 20 to 30 per cent.

“They will face pressures to cut costs elsewhere, and this might be the use of fire, rather than the use of machinery to clear land,” he said.

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