Haze caused by land-clearing fires in Indonesia causes massive disruption not only on the originating island but also in neighbouring countries such as Singapore. Therefore it comes back on the policy agenda with a predictable pattern. Fire and haze from burning forests is currently the topic of two blogs that have been published by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). CIFOR also organized a Fire and Haze High-Level Policy Dialogue in Jakarta on 26 August 2015.

For CIFOR, scientist Herry Purnomo looks at the political economy of fire and haze in Indonesia. He urges the government and all stakeholders to get together under a landscapes approach that can reconcile different land use needs. According to Purnomo, spatial maping is key, as well as enforcing laws to procecute crimes of illegal land clearing.

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For the Agroforestry World Blog Meine van Noordwijk looks at 20 years of lessons learned from research on alternatives to slash and burn in Indonesia. He warns that every time the rains come, the urgency of finding alternatives to slash and burn are forgotten.

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