Indonesia haze in 2015 may have caused more than 100,000 premature deaths, study claims
New research shows the deaths were linked to respiratory illnesses and will add pressure on the government to tackle the crisis
The study by scientists from Harvard University and Columbia University to be published in the journal Environmental Research Letters is being welcomed by other researchers and Indonesia’s medical profession as an advance in quantifying the suspected serious public health effects of the fires, which are mostly set to clear land for farming. The number of deaths is an estimate derived from a complex analysis that has not yet been validated by analysis of official data on mortality.
The research has implications for land-use practices and Indonesia’s vast pulp and paper industry. The researchers showed that peatlands within timber concessions, and peat lands overall, were a much bigger proportion of the fires observed by satellite than in 2006, which was another particularly bad year for haze. The researchers surmise that draining of the peat lands to prepare them for pulpwood plantations and other uses made them more vulnerable to fires.
The estimate of premature deaths linked to respiratory illness that covers Indonesia and its neighbours Singapore and Malaysia dwarves Indonesia’s official toll of 19 that included deaths from illness and the deaths of firefighters. However, the possible scale of serious heath consequences was indicated by a statement from the country’s disaster management agency in October that said more than 43 million Indonesians were exposed to smoke from the fires and half a million suffered acute respiratory infections.