Weak enforcement of restrictions to curb COVID-19 infections in rural Indonesia, coupled with farmers opting for cheap ways to clear land, could see a repeat of the forest fires and smoke that choked Southeast Asia last year, environmentalists have said.
The annual haze season, from around June until October, caused airports and schools to close in 2019. The burning of an estimated 16,000 square kilometers of land cost Indonesia $5.2 billion in economic losses, according to the World Bank.
More than 900,000 people also reported respiratory illnesses.