World's Oldest Rainforests Burn as Indonesia Spreads Haze
- Indonesia president says will take years to solve haze problem
- Decentralized bureaucracy, land complexity in Widodo's way
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Having promised to extinguish forest fires in Riau in western Indonesia by early October, President Joko Widodo jetted into Sumatra island last week for a progress check. The smoke was so thick his plane couldn’t land, forcing him back to the capital.
Exacerbated by dry conditions from El Nino, the haze has blown across Southeast Asia, blanketing Singapore, parts of Indonesia and Malaysia in a smog that has closed schools and forced some people to flee their homes. In what has become an annual “haze season” ritual, governments are bickering about who is to blame and how to fix things, fearing a hit to tourism and economic activity.