Month: August 2019

Forest Fire Global International RFMRC-SEA Wildfire

The Amazon, Siberia, Indonesia: A World of Fire

By Kendra Pierre-Louis
The growing intensity of wildfires and their spread to new corners of the globe raises fears that climate change is exacerbating the dangers.

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In South America, the Amazon basin is ablaze. Halfway around the world in central Africa, vast stretches of savanna are going up in flame. Arctic regions in Siberia are burning at a historic pace.

While the Brazilian fires have grown into a full-blown international crisis, they represent only one of many significant areas where wildfires are currently burning around the world. Their increase in severity and spread to places where fires were rarely previously seen is raising fears that climate change is exacerbating the danger.

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RFMRC-SEA SOUTHEAST ASIA THAILAND

Land grabbers implicated in peat swamp blazes

writer: Post Reporters | 27 Aug 2019

The Crime Suppression Division (CSD) has launched an investigation into the burning of peat swamps in Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Chalerm Prakiat district with a land acquisition motive suspected to be behind the blazes.

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Brazil International RFMRC-SEA

Amazon fires: Brazilian rainforest burning at record rate, space agency warns

21 August 2019

Brazil’s Amazon rainforest has seen a record number of fires this year, according to new data from the country’s space research agency.

The National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) said its satellite data showed an 83% increase on the same period in 2018.

It comes weeks after President Jair Bolsonaro fired the head of the agency amid rows over its deforestation data.

Smoke from the fires caused a blackout in the city of Sao Paulo on Monday.

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International RFMRC-SEA Turkey

Forest fire destroys over 1,200 acres of land

İZMİR-Anadolu Agency | 19 August 2019

 

Forest fires have consumed some 500 hectares (over 1,200 acres) of land in İzmir, Turkey’s Aegean coast, an official said on Aug. 19.

On Aug. 18, the fires broke out in four different regions- including two in the southwestern Muğla province and others in Izmir province, according to Agriculture and Forest Ministry.

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International RFMRC-SEA

Forest fires draw partisan reports from Turkish press

Michael Mackenzie | Aug 18 2019

 

After a year when its news agenda has rarely slowed down from its breakneck pace, Turkey had a week of calm for the Feast of the Eid al-Adha holiday last week. During this welcome break from a frenzied political agenda, Turks also received the good news that their tourism sector had capped a strong couple of years with an excellent performance over the holiday period, with hotels in the Aegean and Mediterranean regions reportedly booked to capacity.

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Forest Fire INDONESIA RFMRC-SEA

Indonesia’s raging forest fires, explained

Kharishar Kahfi | 14 August 2019
The Jakarta Post
Indonesia is currently on the brink of another haze crisis as the archipelago is seeing an increase in the number of forest and land fires. According to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the number of hot spots increased to 2,002 on Aug. 9 from 1,586 on Aug. 7 and 1,025 on Aug. 3. The hot spots were largely detected in the provinces of Riau, West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan.

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RFMRC-SEA SOUTHEAST ASIA

Malaysia calls on Asean to fight haze as Indonesia battles forest fires

6 August 2019

PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – Malaysia will call on Asean member countries to take proactive measures to avoid trans-boundary haze during a two-day meeting in Brunei beginning on Tuesday (Aug 6).

In a statement, the Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Ministry said Malaysia wanted concerted efforts taken in accordance with the Asean Agreement on Trans-boundary Haze ratified by member countries.

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Malaysia RFMRC-SEA SOUTHEAST ASIA

Forest fires cause ‘unhealthy’ air quality in Pahang town

Bernama | 3

PUTRAJAYA: Smoke from forest fires in Pekan caused air quality to drop to unhealthy levels at Bandar Indera Mahkota this morning, the Environment Department reported.

It said Air Pollutant Index readings throughout the country were at moderate levels, except at Bandar Indera Mahkota which recorded an API of 104.

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INDONESIA RFMRC-SEA

Indonesia steps up response to massive forest fires

By Niniek Karmini | AP
01 August 2019

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Forest fires burning throughout Indonesia have prompted six provinces to declare a state of emergency and deploy thousands of security forces, a disaster official said Thursday

Firefighting measures included aerial water drops in anticipation of worsening forest fires that each year spread health-damaging haze across much of Southeast Asia, said Agus Wibowo, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman.

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