SINGAPORE, October 23, 2026 — Singapore has ordered ten domestic companies in the palm oil and forestry sectors to provide information on their links to Indonesian plantations and measures taken to prevent and fight fires. The National Environment Agency issued these orders under Section 10 of the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act, as it investigates companies that may have contributed to haze in Singapore.
The Long Shadow of Southeast Asia’s Annual Haze
According to historical and Wikipedia records, transboundary haze in Southeast Asia has been recorded since 1972, with 1997 and 2015 being particularly severe events. Haze events occur when air quality reaches hazardous levels due to high concentrations of airborne particulate matter from burning biomass, causing adverse health, environmental, and economic impacts across several countries in the region. According to Wikipedia, the problem flares up every dry season to varying degrees and generally is worst between July and October and during El Nino events. Industrial-scale slash-and-burn practices to clear land for agricultural purposes are a major cause of the haze, particularly for palm oil and pulpwood production in the region. According to Wikipedia, burning land occurs as it is cheaper and faster compared to cutting and clearing using excavators or other machinery. Fires started for this purpose sometimes spread and create forest fires, worsening the problem, while the high concentration of peat in soil contributes to the haze’s density and high sulphur content.
According to Wikipedia, fires in Indonesia, particularly South Sumatra and Riau in Sumatra, and Kalimantan in Borneo, along with to a lesser extent in Malaysia and Thailand, have been identified as sources of the regional haze. The haze regularly has a major impact on air quality in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei Darussalam, and to a lesser extent and in particularly severe years, it also impacts the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and countries outside the region. Wikipedia notes that haze events have been shown to cause health issues and mortality in affected areas, alongside disruption to economic activity and education as sectors are forced to close to minimise exposure to hazardous air. Furthermore, the haze has a substantial environmental impact, serving as a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the region while affecting wildlife and ecosystems. According to Wikipedia, the haze is an international issue which has caused regional political tensions, and while efforts have been made to mitigate haze events and their impacts through ASEAN regional cooperation frameworks, challenges remain in implementing these measures.
Economic Stakes and the Mechanics of Land Clearing
According to Al Jazeera, the World Bank’s assessment of Indonesia’s 2015 fire crisis estimated losses of at least $16.1bn, equivalent to 1.9 percent of that year’s gross domestic product, while government figures put the area burned between June and October at 2.6 million hectares. According to Al Jazeera, that estimate covered agriculture, trade, tourism, transport, healthcare, and emergency response, but excluded some long-term health damage and lost ecosystem services. More recent estimates put the area burned in Indonesia in 2026 between 637,000 and 900,000 hectares, according to Al Jazeera. In addition, Indonesian Ministry of Health data recorded 283,270 cases of respiratory illness linked to the fires in seven provinces as of October 13, according to Al Jazeera. In West Kalimantan province, fires have also threatened communities and livelihoods, underscoring that Indonesians living beside the flames bear costs long before smoke reaches neighbouring countries, as reported by Al Jazeera.
According to Wikipedia, fire is the cheapest and fastest method to clear land in preparation for planting, used to clear plant material left over from logging or old crops. Mechanically raking plant material into long piles and letting them rot over time is expensive and slow, and could harbour pests. According to Wikipedia, clearing land with machines and chemicals can cost up to US$200 per hectare while using fire costs US$5 per hectare. After a peat swamp forest has been cleared and drained, the peat soil is still unsuitable for agriculture because it is nutrient-poor and acidic, requiring chemicals such as limestone to neutralise the pH and add nutrients, according to Wikipedia. According to Wikipedia, direct causes of fire include using fire as a tool in land clearing, as a weapon in land tenure or land use disputes, accidental or escaped fires, and fires connected with resource extraction. Indirect causes include land tenure and land use allocation conflicts and competition, forest degrading practices, economic incentives and disincentives, population growth and migration, and inadequate firefighting and management capacity.
Testing the Limits of Cross-Border Accountability
According to Al Jazeera, the current crisis has seen Malaysia close schools and Singapore experience dangerous levels of air pollution, while parts of the Philippines have been affected, underscoring how far the smoke has travelled. Forest and peatland fires in Indonesia, particularly in Kalimantan, are a major source of the regional haze, according to Al Jazeera. According to Wikipedia, most haze events have resulted from smoke from fires occurring on peat lands in Sumatra and the Kalimantan region of Borneo island. Poor accountability and transparency of Indonesian agricultural companies, and limited political and economic incentives to hold companies to account, have been identified as key barriers to mitigating the issue, according to Wikipedia.
According to Al Jazeera, the private calculation for agricultural actors is straightforward because they spend less on land preparation and capture the returns, while the fires cause respiratory illness, lost working days, school closures, and transport disruption, alongside ecosystem damage and greenhouse gas emissions. Those costs are rarely borne in full by those responsible for the burning, creating a central economic distortion where the cost of burning is not fully reflected in the decision to burn, according to Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera notes that smoke travels across borders, but responsibility and enforcement remain largely national. The recent orders issued by the National Environment Agency under Section 10 of the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act represent an attempt by Singapore to investigate domestic companies that may have contributed to haze in Singapore, testing how far local legal frameworks can reach across borders into regional plantations, according to Channel NewsAsia.
Sources
- Southeast Asia haze: 10 Singapore firms ordered to give details of links to Indonesian plantations
- Southeast Asian haze
- Southeast Asia’s haze crisis will persist until polluters pay
Photo: Justanothersgwikieditor (CC BY-SA 4.0)
