On 15 April 2016, the Singapore Institute of International Affairs held our 3rd Singapore Dialogue on Sustainable World Resources on the theme of "Global Consensus, Regional Actions: Recommitting to Sustainable Growth", bringing together over 350 policymakers, industry delegates, NGO representatives, academics and members of the...
Signs warn that haze may soon return to the skies of South-east Asia. Fires have already broken out in Riau and a state of emergency declared earlier this month. Yet, while some fear the worst, the declaration shows the urgent attention that the Indonesian President...
A recent call in France to boycott Nutella had many Italians going nuts. “We should stop eating Nutella,” French Ecology Minister Ségolène Royal urged in a television interview. Her reason: the iconic chocolatehazelnut spread by Italy’s Ferrero Group is made with palm oil. “Oil palms...
The recent haze crisis has set a few new records in the region. Given the massive human and environmental costs, it will go down in history as one of the worst environmental disasters in Southeast Asia. The Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has...
The 2015 haze crisis has affected countries across the region. But the ones who have suffered the most are Indonesians closest to the fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan. On 23 November 2015, the SIIA held a public seminar featuring perspectives from Indonesians from the worst-hit...
When Mr Prayoto was born in Riau in 1980, oil palms occupied less than 10,000ha in the Indonesian province in central Sumatra. When he turned 21 and started working at the Riau Provincial Forestry Service, the figure breached one million hectares. It has since grown...
In all the finger-pointing over the transboundary haze, some banks in Singapore have come under the spotlight for allegedly financing the culprits behind Indonesia’s forest fires. Now the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) has a new set of guidelines for banks to incorporate responsible financing...
It remains essential to work with the Indonesian government to address the haze. However, while intergovernmental cooperation remains key, there is every reason to expect corporations to do their part to stop the fires and haze or risk being taken to task. The first steps towards...
The Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) held our Haze: Know it. Stop it. Exhibition on Oct 16-18 at nex @ Serangoon Central, with presentations from the SIIA, PM.Haze, Singapore Environment Council, Relief.sg, and Haze Elimination Action Team (HEAT) on their respective anti-haze efforts. Efforts to...
There are reasons to be frustrated and angry about the haze pollution, caused by fires in Indonesian provinces. There are also reasons to question whether real action will be taken and can be effective. The problem is driven not by natural causes, but by man-made deforestation...