The dense smog engulfing most of South East Asia has brought home in dramatic fashion to its citizens, and a wider world, the environmental costs of economic development. Tens of millions of people have been affected by the smoke from forest fires in Indonesia caused by slash and burn techniques used by plantation companies and farmers. Huge profits are to be made from forest clearance and sales of hardwood, but at devastating cost to this ecologically indispensable resource. The fires have been exacerbated this year by drought conditions associated with the El Nino weather phenomenon in the Pacific region, and the smog has been made worse as it mingles with widespread industrial and traffic pollution.
Belatedly, governments are taking action and beginning to grapple with the long-term consequences of the crisis. Special fire-fighting units have been despatched to the most affected areas of Indonesia, efforts are being made to seed clouds to stimulate rains, and water sprinkler equipment is being installed on Kuala Lumpur's most spectacular tower buildings. Such measures are not likely to improve matters very much until the monsoon rains come. They have been delayed by the cyclical El Nino phenomenon, which has brought drought conditions to many areas. And even if the seasonal rains do come and do quench the fires, the underlying conditions giving rise to this catastrophe remain to be addressed.
Established bans on slash and burn techniques need to be enforced and extended. Environmental issues need to be put much more squarely at the centre of regional policy-making, taking industrial pollution and traffic congestion much more seriously. These matters will provoke intense discussion about closer regional integration. El Nino underlines once more the urgent need for environmental co-operation at a world-wide level, involving action by the developed states as well as by the rapidly developing ones. Regulatory and commercial factors can re-enforce one another. Public opinion in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, will force attention to environmental questions in the wake of the smog. As their economies develop, further opportunities open up for the most up-to-date environmental equipment, techniques and policies to be used - many of them developed in Europe. The same applies in China, now that whole sectors of its state-owned economy are set to be modernised by private ownership and new investment. Although environmental concerns are expensive, they are an increasingly indispensable part of general development strategies.
This news comes as international attention has been focussed on South East Asia's financial and economic travails. After more than a decade of phenomenal economic growth, accompanied by real if uneven human development, several of its leading economies - most notably, Thailand and Malaysia - have suffered sharp setbacks in recent months. Their currencies and stock exchanges became the targets of international speculation as investors lost confidence in their ability to manage the next phase of their development. Despite these difficulties, the Asian region as a whole, China included, will continue to be one of the most dynamic areas in the world economy. The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, has drawn attention, quite correctly, to the need for Ireland to devote much more attention and resources to this part of the world.