Why isn't more attention being paid to Indonesia's catastrophic wildfires?
A forest fire that has been raging since early October has claimed over 19 deaths and affected half a million lives in Indonesia. It 聽鈥渢he greatest environmental disaster of the 21st聽century.鈥澛�
The fire was set to clear land for palm oil and pulp-and-paper plantations. But things got out of hand due to a prolonged dry season and heavy winds from El Ni帽o warming in the Pacific. Then things got really out of hand: endangered wildlife is at high risk of being exterminated, and six Indonesian provinces have to be in a state of emergency. NASA has claimed it to be . 聽聽
But the fire, which has burned across the 5,000-kilometer length of Indonesia and released more CO2 than Germany does in a year, has gone virtually unreported by the mass media.
鈥淚t is surely, on any objective assessment, more important than anything else taking place today. And it shouldn鈥檛 require a columnist, writing in the middle of a newspaper, to say so,鈥� wrote George Monibot in a Guardian op-ed. 鈥�.鈥�
While Western media has covered the story, it has rarely been on page one. The New York Times wrote about being driven from the forests and , and published an op-ed last week on . and the have written about the toxic haze spreading from the fire. The and wrote about how the fires were polluting the climate.
The story is undoubtedly major. Damage from the fire is costing Indonesia . Over 40 million people are breathing in fumes from the haze.
So why are so few paying attention to the crisis?
鈥淲ell, there鈥檚 a ,鈥� Mr. Monibot wrote. 鈥淢any of which involve power.鈥�
Indonesia鈥檚 fire is expected to have devastating effects: by 10 to 20 percent, the bee population will be significantly reduced, and the haze is already spreading to other parts of Asia, such as southern Thailand.
Even though the Indonesian fire isn't front page news, the story continues.
