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Borneo hit by choking haze
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Borneo residents are reaching for their face masks and staying indoors in a bid to escape the effects of a choking haze caused by forest fires. The latest in a now seasonal bout of chronic air pollution has enshrouded Palangka Raya, the provincial capital of Central Kalimantan, reducing visibility and paralyzing transportation along the Kahayan River, the Jakarta Post reported. The haze that has consistently blanketed parts of Kalimantan is caused by the slash-and-burn land clearance method employed by farmers, the forest clearing activities of large corporations and coal fires smoldering on peatland. The fires, which can blanket vast tracts of Southeast Asia, create health and environmental problems almost every year. On Wednesday, provincial leaders agreed to draft a regulation on forest and land clearing in an effort to prevent future occurrences of haze, reported the Jakarta Post. Doubts linger over how effectively such regulations will be enforced. Conservationists have long criticized Jakarta for failing to protect its natural resources. Indonesia admits its laws are too weak to deal with the problem and is promising reform. Flights cancelledThe latest spell of pollution forced the indefinite closure of schools and offices in Palangkaraya, an official said on Friday. Hidayat, a meteorology official in the Central Kalimantan capital said conditions were horrible in the city, where visibility had dropped to 10 meters (11 yards) since Thursday. A domestic Indonesian carrier, Merpati Nusantara Airlines, said the poor conditions had forced it to postpone all flights to Palangkaraya until the end of September. "There's been no rain, it's horrible. The governor's office has instructed schools and offices to close until further notice," Hidayat told Reuters news agency by telephone from Palangkaraya, 875 km (543 miles) northeast of Jakarta. "Only markets seem open," he said, predicting the haze would linger until October. The wet season is due to start in October or early November. Brisk tradeHidayat said other parts of Central Kalimantan province were suffering from haze, although not as bad as Palangkaraya, a key transit point on the Indonesian side of Borneo. The east Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah and the independent sultanate of Brunei are also on Borneo. The directive closing schools and offices was issued on Wednesday and took effect on Friday. Hidayat said peddlers were doing a brisk trade selling face masks in Palangkaraya, home to around 200,000 people. "In the past three days almost everyone has worn masks," he told Reuters. Khadijah, an official at the airport in Banjarmasin, the provincial capital of neighboring South Kalimantan province, said haze had been a problem although it generally cleared during the day. Flights were operating normally there, she said. Thick haze from major fires on Borneo and Sumatra island in 1997 and 1998 spread to Singapore and Malaysia and cost regional economies $9 billion in damage to farming, transport and tourism. Reuters contributed to this report.
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