Why isn't more attention being paid to Indonesia's catastrophic wildfires?
A massive forest fire burning across Indonesia is wreaking havoc on the environment. Few are paying attention.聽
A massive forest fire burning across Indonesia is wreaking havoc on the environment. Few are paying attention.聽
A forest fire that has been raging since early October has claimed over 19 deaths and affected half a million lives in Indonesia. It has been called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 declared themselves to be in a state of emergency. NASA has claimed it to be Indonesia鈥檚 worst fire. 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. 鈥淚t should be on everyone鈥檚 front page.鈥�
While Western media has covered the story, it has rarely been on page one. The New York Times wrote about the endangered wildlife being driven from the forests and rain that鈥檚 dampened the forest, and published an op-ed last week on how to save Indonesia鈥檚 rainforests. The Economist and the Wall Street Journal have written about the toxic haze spreading from the fire. The Washington Post and Bloomberg wrote about how the fires were polluting the climate.
The story is undoubtedly major. Damage from the fire is costing Indonesia more than $35 billion. 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 question with a thousand answers,鈥� Mr. Monibot wrote. 鈥淢any of which involve power.鈥�
Indonesia鈥檚 fire is expected to have devastating effects: palm oil production will drop 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.