How victims can pay polluters for a win-win result

Forest fires and smoke haze in Southeast Asia have, over the years, resulted in serious health risks, environmental damage and economic ramifications well beyond borders. Fining the perpetrators is risky. Boycotts of haze-linked products such as palm oil penalise well-behaved plantations as well as errant ones. What if, instead, the victims were to pay?

In this commentary, Prof Euston Quah, Albert Winsemius Chair Professor of Economics, and Director, Economic Growth Centre at NTU, says that paying polluters to adopt fire-free land clearing practices could be the economic solution the region needs, particularly if countries were willing to overlook narrow national interests and acknowledge the transnational effects of haze on economies and societies.

Read the article here.

Photo: Aulia Erlangga / CIFOR on Eco-Business