In this talk, Dr. Myron Shekelle will focus on the haze that blankets Singapore each year during the dry season and examine various proposed solutions, including the unexpected relationship to primate conservation. We will discuss the source of the haze and review its estimated dollars costs, as well as the unknown long-term costs. We will examine proposed solutions, including social and political initiatives. Finally we will examine primate conservation, and how elements of transnational conservation advocacy movement unites images of fire, smoke, orangutan, and habitat destruction in a campaign designed to galvanize international support for their efforts, efforts which—if successful—would greatly reduce the haze problem.

1. Haze
Breaking the Cycle
with Primate Conservation?
Dr. Myron Shekelle
Department of Biological Sciences
& University Scholars Programme
National University of Singapore

3. Haze

4. Haze
Breaking the Cycle

5. Haze
Breaking the Cycle
with Primate Conservation?

6. Haze
Breaking the Cycle
with Primate Conservation?

7. Haze
Breaking the Cycle
with Primate Conservation?
Dr. Myron Shekelle
Department of Biological Sciences
& University Scholars Programme
National University of Singapore

14. 1. The cause(s) of the fires are multifactorial.
a) Small scale slash and burn farmers
b) Large corporations, Indonesian and foreign
c) Exacerbated by other conditions(e.g. El Niño, peat
swamps)
2. Result at least partially from governmental policy (in
1997).
3. NGOs helped to expose the role of government and
large corporations.

15. 1. The cause(s) of the fires are multifactorial.
a) Small scale slash and burn farmers
b) Large corporations, Indonesian and foreign
c) Exacerbated by other conditions(e.g. El Niño, peat
swamps)
2. Result at least partially from governmental policy (in
1997).
3. NGOs helped to expose the role of government and
large corporations.

16. 1. The cause(s) of the fires are multifactorial.
a) Small scale slash and burn farmers
b) Large corporations, Indonesian and foreign
c) Exacerbated by other conditions(e.g. El Niño, peat
swamps)
2. Result at least partially from governmental policy (in
1997).
3. NGOs helped to expose the role of government and
large corporations.
But, why primate conservation?

17. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5047610.stm

18. http://www.itv.com/news/index_24cafcea6662b485baa624d0371a6841.html

22. The Cost
Hon (1999)
S$650,000
for Rasa Sentosa Hotel in 1997 alone!

23. The Cost
Hon (1999)
S$97.5-110.5 million to
Singapore!
For losses due to short-term health

24. The Cost
Glover and Jessup (2006)
“ conservatively . . . USD
$4.5 billion” regional losses
. . . in 1997 alone!

25. Incalculabe Long-Term Costs
health

26. Incalculabe Long-Term Costs
Economic Development

27. The Solution
Long-term solutions:
•Tackle the roots of poverty in the effected areas.
•Ban forest conversion in peat swamps.
•Audit logging concessions
•Revamp the Department of Forestry to separate its
regulatory and development roles and reduce
corruption.
•Key: Political will “banning concessions in peat
swamp forests, therefore, will be a litmus test of
political will on the part of the leadership of the
Indonesian government”.
Eduardo Arral
Assistant Professor
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
“The Fire and Haze Problem: Causes
Consequences, and Long Term Solutions”

30. What Can You Do Today?
short-term actions:
•Stop patronizing the products of companies that
are culpable (e.g. pulp and palm oil)
•Support environmental NGOs
Eduardo Arral
Assistant Professor
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
“The Fire and Haze Problem: Causes
Consequences, and Long Term Solutions”

33. But, why primate conservation?
1. Failure: primate conservation has decades of experience
with failed solutions that do not address the root causes.
2. Iconic status of primates as flagships for action
What is a catalyzing image?

37. There’s lots left to burn.

38. There’s lots left to burn.

39. Haze
Breaking the Cycle
with Primate Conservation?
Dr. Myron Shekelle
Department of Biological Sciences
& University Scholars Programme
National University of Singapore
based on a report by
Syahirah Bte Abdul Karim &
Suhaila Bte Haji Taher
with financial assistance from the NUS
University Scholars Programme