Description
Toxic smoke from fires burning for months in Indonesia has resulted in the deaths of an estimated 3,560 people in September. That's according to the latest report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). The report says air pollution-related deaths in September were up 42% from August, jumping to 5,310 nationwide. It attributes these deaths to two main sources: smoke from forest and land fires, and chronic exposure to pollution from urban and industrial emissions. Toxic smoke from forest and land fires accounted for 94% to 99% of air-pollution related deaths in four provinces across Kalimantan, and more than 80% in several provinces in Sumatra. For more insights into this report, we were joined by the author Katherine Hasan - Analyst and Indonesia lead for CREA.