Transboundary Pollution in Southeast Asia: The Indonesian Fires

Uncontrollable forest fires in Indonesia have caused much environmental damage in Southeast Asia with immediate countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, and even Southern Thailand bearing most of it. The intentional burning of forests has engendered a transboundary haze pollution problem with severe economic ramifications in both victim and perpetrator countries. This paper reviews the related issues and suggested policy responses from the different interdisciplinary perspectives. Identification and analysis by way of a “stakeholders approach” to the possible sharing of costs in certain programs to combat the fires and haze is suggested. The paper also discusses the role of economic incentives in managing forest fires.