Singapore has been spared from the haze so far this year, but will this change the government’s haze assessment? SIIA Executive Director and Nominated MP Nicholas Fang posed the question in Parliament:
In Parliament yesterday, Nominated MP Nicholas Fang asked Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan if the recent weather would prompt a change in the ministry’s haze assessment. But Dr Balakrishnan said Singaporeans are well aware that the haze can arrive “unpredictably and very quickly”.
“It takes about six hours from the onset of the plume in Riau to be brought across… the narrow straits to us,” he said.
The Government has warned that the haze could be imminent for several reasons. The dry season from June to September in Sumatra generally leads to burning as farmers clear land to grow crops. This season’s low rainfall could be worsened by El Nino.And the period coincides with the onset of the south-west monsoon, which is likely to carry smoke plumes from Sumatra.
The above is an excerpt from “No haze yet? Thank favourable winds and recent rains”, The Straits Times, 8 Jul 2014 (Article requires login)
