FOREST fires raging across Indonesian Borneo and its neighbour Sumatra are threatening to intensify toxic smog and pollution hanging over South-East Asia, which the United Nations identified this week as one of the world’s most pernicious environmental hazards. The pollution kills hundreds of thousands of people every year, and is disrupting the region’s climate, says the UN.
The fires have been spreading since mid-July. Researchers in the area now fear they could spark a repeat of the pollution crisis in 1997, when a thick, choking smog spread over neighbouring countries. Then, as now, fires were sparked by plantation companies setting…
