Book contents
- Sustainable Development: Asia-Pacific Perspectives
- Sustainable Development: Asia-Pacific Perspectives
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Notes on contributors
- Peer reviewers
- Editor’s note
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Environmental keystones: Remembering Dr Mostafa Kamal Tolba
- Remembering Dr Mostafa Kamal Tolba
- Remembering Dr Mostafa Kamal Tolba
- Acronyms and abbreviations
- SI prefixes
- Unit abbreviations
- Chemical formulae
- Part I Sustainable Development: Theories and Practices
- Part II Sustainable Development: Challenges and Opportunities
- 17 Scientific responses in an era of global change
- 18 Government communication on transboundary haze: The nexus between public health and tourism
- 19 Biomass energy prospects: A promising fuel for sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific
- 20 Pathways to a more sustainable electricity sector in India
- 21 Gender equality and energy access: Barriers to maximizing development effectiveness in the SAARC region
- 22 The biosphere and the interactions between stratospheric ozone depletion and climate change
- 23 The political challenge of linking climate change and sustainable development policies: Risks and prospects
- 24 Social vulnerability to climate change in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Vietnam
- 25 Sustainable development in Bangladesh: Bridging the SDGs and climate action
- 26 Sustainable development in Pakistan: Vulnerabilities and opportunities
- 27 Beyond protected areas: Biodiversity conservation and global change in Asia and the Pacific
- 28 Causes of land-use change and biodiversity loss in Monsoon Asia
- 29 Assessing linkages between land use and biodiversity: A case study from the Eastern Himalayas using low-cost, high-return survey technology
- 30 Where to invade next: Inaction on biological invasions threatens sustainability in a small island developing state of the tropical South Pacific
- 31 Did the Indian Ocean tsunami trigger a shift towards disaster risk reduction?
- 32 Cyclone Nargis and disaster risk management in Myanmar
- Index
- Endmatter
- References
18 - Government communication on transboundary haze: The nexus between public health and tourism
from Part II - Sustainable Development: Challenges and Opportunities
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2021
Edited by
Book contents
- Sustainable Development: Asia-Pacific Perspectives
- Sustainable Development: Asia-Pacific Perspectives
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Notes on contributors
- Peer reviewers
- Editor’s note
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Environmental keystones: Remembering Dr Mostafa Kamal Tolba
- Remembering Dr Mostafa Kamal Tolba
- Remembering Dr Mostafa Kamal Tolba
- Acronyms and abbreviations
- SI prefixes
- Unit abbreviations
- Chemical formulae
- Part I Sustainable Development: Theories and Practices
- Part II Sustainable Development: Challenges and Opportunities
- 17 Scientific responses in an era of global change
- 18 Government communication on transboundary haze: The nexus between public health and tourism
- 19 Biomass energy prospects: A promising fuel for sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific
- 20 Pathways to a more sustainable electricity sector in India
- 21 Gender equality and energy access: Barriers to maximizing development effectiveness in the SAARC region
- 22 The biosphere and the interactions between stratospheric ozone depletion and climate change
- 23 The political challenge of linking climate change and sustainable development policies: Risks and prospects
- 24 Social vulnerability to climate change in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Vietnam
- 25 Sustainable development in Bangladesh: Bridging the SDGs and climate action
- 26 Sustainable development in Pakistan: Vulnerabilities and opportunities
- 27 Beyond protected areas: Biodiversity conservation and global change in Asia and the Pacific
- 28 Causes of land-use change and biodiversity loss in Monsoon Asia
- 29 Assessing linkages between land use and biodiversity: A case study from the Eastern Himalayas using low-cost, high-return survey technology
- 30 Where to invade next: Inaction on biological invasions threatens sustainability in a small island developing state of the tropical South Pacific
- 31 Did the Indian Ocean tsunami trigger a shift towards disaster risk reduction?
- 32 Cyclone Nargis and disaster risk management in Myanmar
- Index
- Endmatter
- References
Summary
Haze has been a serious transboundary problem in Southeast Asia for decades. Originating largely from fires in Indonesia, the smoke travels across borders, affecting up to six Southeast Asian states almost annually. Haze contains fine particles which irritate the eyes and penetrate the lungs. As a result, scores of Indonesians, Malaysians, and Singaporeans suffer from respiratory, dermatological, and ophthalmological problems. These health risks, together with reduced visibility, have also caused tourist numbers to drop dramatically. This chapter observes that governments worked hard to protect and maintain their tourism sectors in the face of the haze. The main tactic used was to underrepresent the health risks of haze, both to citizens and tourists. As a result, regional governments largely failed to recognize the haze as a serious public health issue. At the national level, states often under-report health effects in the attempt to keep tourism levels stable. At the regional level, member states have yet to agree on a common ASEAN-wide regional air quality measurement system, with many continuing to use a system that tends to underrepresent health risks. At the international level, affected states have been quick to debunk research that indicates higher levels of mortality. As a result, citizens lack the awareness and sense of urgency to make wise health and well-being decisions during haze episodes. Sustainable development involves economic growth balanced with social development and environmental sustainability. However, the case of the haze shows that Southeast Asian states still find it challenging to balance these elements in the spirit of sustainable development.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Sustainable Development: Asia-Pacific Perspectives , pp. 220 - 230Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022
References
Amul, G. (2013) Haze and air pollution: the potential health crisis. RSIS Commentary, 122, 1–3.Google Scholar
Arfan, A. (2016) Managing the impact of smoke haze disaster: response of civil society groups towards Jambi provincial government performance. Jurnal Bina Praja, 8, 59–68.Google Scholar
Article 19 and CIJ (2007) A Haze of Secrecy: Access to Environmental Information in Malaysia. London, Article 19 and Centre for Independent Journalism.Google Scholar
ASEAN Secretariat (1976) Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia. Jakarta, ASEAN.Google Scholar
ASEAN Secretariat (2008) Information on Fire and Haze. HazeOnline. Retrieved from http://haze.asean.org/about-us/information-on-fire-and-haze/ on 1 August 2009.Google Scholar
Caballero-Anthony, M. and Tian, G. (2015) ASEAN’s haze shroud: grave threat to human security. RSIS Commentary, 207, 1–3.Google Scholar
Campbell, L. B. (2005) The political economy of environmental regionalism in Asia. In Pempel, T. J. (ed.), Remapping East Asia: The Construction of a Region. Ithaca, Cornell University Press, pp. 216–235.Google Scholar
Chooi, Y. H. and Yong, E. L. (2016) The influence of PM2.5 and PM10 on Air Pollution Index. Environmental Engineering, Hydraulics and Hydrology, 3, 1–12.Google Scholar
Dauvergne, P. (1998) The political economy of Indonesia’s 1997 forest fires. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 52, 13–17.Google Scholar
De Pretto, L., Acreman, S., Ashfold, M. J., Mohankumar, S. K. and Campos-Arceiz, A. (2015) The link between knowledge, attitudes, and practises in relation to atmospheric haze pollution in Peninsular Malaysia. PLoS One, 10, 1–18.Google Scholar
Eaton, P. (2001) Policy implications and government responses to the fires and haze of 1997 and 1998. In Radojevic, M. and Eaton, P. (eds.), Forest Fires and Regional Haze in Southeast Asia. New York, Nova Science Publishers.Google Scholar
Eaton, P. and Radojevic, R. (2001) Forest Fires and Regional Haze in Southeast Asia. New York, Nova Science Publishers.Google Scholar
Forsyth, T. (2014) Public concerns about transboundary haze: a comparison of Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. Global Environmental Change, 25, 76–86.Google Scholar
Ho, R. C., Zhang, M. W., Ho, C. S., Pan, F., Lu, Y. and Sharma, V. K. (2014) Impact of 2013 South Asian haze crisis: study of physical and psychological symptoms and perceived dangerousness of pollution level. BMC Psychiatry, 14, 1–8.Google Scholar
Hon, P. M. L. (1999) Singapore. In Glover, D. and Jessup, T. (eds.), Indonesia’s Fires and Haze: The Cost of Catastrophe. Singapore Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, pp. 51–85.Google Scholar
Jones, W. (2014) Human security & ASEAN transboundary haze: an idea that never came. Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences, 5, 603–623.Google Scholar
Koplitz, S., Mickley, L., Marlier, M., Buonocore, J., Kim, P., Liu, T., Sulprizio, M., DeFries, R., Jacob, D., Schwartz, J., Pongsiri, M. and Myers, S. (2016) Public health impacts of the severe haze in Equatorial Asia in September–October 2015: demonstration of a new framework for informing fire management strategies to reduce downwind smoke exposure. Environmental Research Letters, 11, 1–10.Google Scholar
Ku Yusof, K. M. K., Azid, A., Samsudin, M. S. and Jamalani, M. A. (2017) An overview of transboundary haze studies: the underlying causes and regional disputes on Southeast Asia region. Malaysian Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, 13, 747–753.Google Scholar
Laden, F., Neas, L. M., Dockery, D. W. and Shchwartz, J. (2000) Association of fine particulate matter from different sources with daily mortality in six U.S. cities. Environmental Health Perspectives, 108, 941–947.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Latif, M. T., Othman, M., Idris, N., Juneng, L., Abdullah, A. M., Hamzah, W. P., Khan, M. F., Sulaiman, N. M. N., Jewaratnam, J., Aghamohammadi, N., Sahani, M., Chung, J. X., Ahamad, F., Amil, N., Darus, M., Varkkey, H., Tangang, F. and Jaafar, A. B. (2018) Impact of regional haze towards air quality in Malaysia: a review. Atmospheric Environment, 177, 28–44.Google Scholar
Leiper, N. and Hing, N. (1998) Trends in Asia-Pacific tourism in 1997–98: from optimism to uncertainty. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 10, 245–251.Google Scholar
Letchumanan, R. (2015) Singapore’s Transboundary Haze Pollu-tion Act: silver bullet or silver lining? RSIS Commentary, 21, 1–3.Google Scholar
Lode, B., Schönberger, P. and Toussaint, P. (2016) Clean air for all by 2030? Air quality in the 2030 Agenda and in international law. Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law, 25, 27–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lu, X., Lin, C., Li, Y., Yao, T., Fung, J. C. H. and Lau, A. K. H. (2017) Assessment of health burden caused by particulate matter in Southern China using high-resolution satellite observation. Environment International, 98, 160–170.Google Scholar
Lu, X., Yao, T., Fung, J. C. H. and Lin, C. (2016) Estimation of health and economic costs of air pollution over the Pearl River Delta region in China. The Science of the Total Environment, 566–577, 134–143.Google Scholar
Massey, B. (2000) How three Southeast-Asian newspapers framed the ‘haze’ of 1997–98. Asian Journal of Communication, 1, 72–94.Google Scholar
Mayer, J. (2006) Transboundary perspectives on managing Indonesia’s fires. The Journal of Environment & Development, 15, 202–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLellan, J. (2001) From denial to debate – And back again! Malaysian press coverage of the air pollution and ‘haze’ episodes, July 1997–July 1999. In Eaton, P. and Radojevic, M. (eds.), Forest Fires and Haze in Southeast Asia. New York, Nova Science Publishers, pp. 253–262.Google Scholar
Ministry of Health (2015) Haze Subsidy Scheme. HealthHub. Retrieved from https://www.healthhub.sg/a-z/costs-and-financing/21/haze-subsidy-scheme on 30 December 2018.Google Scholar
Mohd Shahwahid, H. O. and Othman, J. (1999) Malaysia. In Glover, D. and Jessup, T. (eds.), Indonesia’s Fires and Haze: The Cost of Catastrophe. Singapore, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, pp. 22–50.Google Scholar
Murdiyarso, D., Lebel, L., Gintings, A., Tampubolon, S., Heil, A. and Wasson, M. (2004) Policy responses to complex environmental problems: Insights from a science–policy activity on transboundary haze from vegetation fires in Southeast Asia. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 104, 47–56.Google Scholar
Nazeer, N. and Furuoka, F. (2017) Overview of ASEAN environment, transboundary haze pollution agreement and public health. International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies, 13, 73–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NEA (2018) Historical PSI readings. Resources. Retrieved from https://www.haze.gov.sg/resources/historical-readings on 3 January 2019.Google Scholar
Othman, J., Sahani, M., Mahmud, M. and Ahmad, M. (2014) Transboundary smoke haze pollution in Malaysia: inpatient health impacts and economic valuation. Environmental Pollution, 189, 194–201.Google Scholar
Prideaux, B., Laws, E. and Faulkner, B. (2003) Events in Indonesia: Exploring the limits to formal tourism trends forecasting methods in complex crisis situations. Tourism Management, 24, 475–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quah, E. and Tan, T. S. (2015) When the haze doesn’t go away – Opinion Piece. Singapore, The Straits Times, 22 September.Google Scholar
Ruitenbeek, J. (1999) Indonesia. In Glover, D. and Jessup, T. (eds.), Indonesia’s Fires and Haze: The Cost of Catastrophe. Singapore, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, pp. 86–129.Google Scholar
Saliluddin, S. (2015) Trans-boundary haze: The annual exo-‘dust’. International Journal of Public Health and Clinical Sciences, 2, 1–9.Google Scholar
Salvo, A. (2017) Local Pollution Drives Global Pollution: Emissions Feedback via Residential Electricity Usage (under review).Google Scholar
Singapore Hansard (1998) ASEAN Environment Ministers’ Meeting (Progress towards addressing problems of fires and haze pollution. Parliament No. 9, Session No. 1. https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/report?sittingdate=20–04-1998.Google Scholar
Smith, A. L. (2004) ASEAN’s Ninth Summit: solidifying regional cohesion, advancing external linkages. Contemporary Southeast Asia, 26, 416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tacconi, L. (2003) Fires in Indonesia: causes, costs, and policy implications. CIFOR Occasional Papers, 38, 1–34.Google Scholar
Tan, A. K. J. (2015) The ‘haze’ crisis in Southeast Asia: assessing Singapore’s Transboundary Haze Pollution Act. SSRN Electronic Journal, 2, 1–44.Google Scholar
Tan, D. and Bassano, M. (2014) Dissecting the Transboundary Haze Pollution Bill of Singapore. Unpublished paper, Columbia School of International and Public Affairs, New York, pp. 1–20.Google Scholar
Tay, S. (2010) Hardest path is only way forward – Opinion Piece. Singapore, Wild Singapore News, 29 October.Google Scholar
Teo, N. C. (2013) Haze: A matter of national emergency! – Opinion Piece. Kuala Lumpur, The Rocket, 25 June.Google Scholar
Varkkey, H. (2013) Regional cooperation, patronage, and the ASEAN agreement on transboundary haze pollution. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 14, 65–81.Google Scholar
Varkkey, H. (2016a) The Haze Problem in Southeast Asia: Palm Oil and Patronage. London, Routledge.Google Scholar
Varkkey, H. (2016b) Transboundary haze and human security in Southeast Asia: national and regional perspectives. Georgetown Journal of Asian Studies, 3, 42–49.Google Scholar
Varkkey, H. and O’Reilly, P. (2019) Socio-political responses towards transboundary haze: The oil palm in Malaysia’s discourse. In Kukreja, S. (ed.), Southeast Asia and Environmental Sustainability in Context, Maryland, Lexington Books.Google Scholar
WHO (2007) A Safer Future: Global Public Health Security in the 21st Century. Geneva, World Health Organization.Google Scholar
Chen, Wong (2015a) Malaysia must use global standards to measure haze – Opinion Piece. Kuala Lumpur, Malay Mail, 27 September.Google Scholar
Chen, Wong (2015b) Both PM2.5 and PM10 are health measures and PM2.5 is a far superior measure. Press Statements. Retrieved from http://www.wongchen.com/2015/10/press-statement-both-pm2-5-and-pm10-are-health-measures-and-p2-5-is-a-far-superior-measure/ on 28 December 2018.Google Scholar
World Bank Group (2016) The Cost of Fire: An Economic Analysis of Indonesia’s 2015 Fire Crisis. Jakarta, World Bank.Google Scholar
WTTC (2015) Benchmarking Travel and Tourism: How Does Travel and Tourism Compare to Other Sectors? London, World Travel and Tourism Council.Google Scholar
Xia, Y., Guan, D., Jiang, X., Peng, L., Schroeder, H. and Zhang, Q. (2016). Assessment of socioeconomic costs to China’s air pollution. Atmospheric Environment, 139, 147–156.Google Scholar