Wildfires
ignite across
Indonesia
BBC,
24
August, 2019
As
fires rage in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, the south-east Asian nation
of Indonesia is witnessing a similarly devastating ecological tragedy
unfold.
The
dry season has arrived in Indonesia - home to some of the world's
oldest tropical forests - bringing with it its worst annual fire
season since 2015.
Close
to 700 hotspots have been identified in fire-prone regions in
Sumatra, Kalimantan and the Riau islands.
They
are often considered to be the planet's most bio-diverse places but
large swathes are being destroyed in the name of large-scale
commercial efforts.
Forests
provide food and shelter and are critical to sustaining biodiversity.
Millions of hectares have been lost to fire in recent decades, having
been cleared by commercial or agricultural interests.
Trees
are important to the world as stores of carbon dioxide. They play a
key and irreplaceable role in regulating global climate change.
Prevailing
winds carrying smokes and dust particles have picked up, blowing
towards Malaysia and Singapore.
Military
planes, ready with water jets, comb the skies above Kalimantan and
Sumatra in search of impending fire.
Whether
or not the situation can be contained will become clear in the coming
weeks.
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