Malaysian Haze

It is time to understand the Environment for what it is: the national-security issue of the early twenty-first century. The political and strategic impact of surging populations, spreading disease, deforestation and soil erosion, water depletion, air pollution, and, possibly, rising sea levels in critical, overcrowded regions like the Nile Delta and Bangladesh—developments that will prompt mass migrations and, in turn, incite group conflicts—will be the core foreign-policy challenge from which most others will ultimately emanate, arousing the public and uniting assorted interests left over from the Cold War.

Robert D. Kaplan, The Coming Anarchy

Malaysia under haze emergency
Aug 11, 2005

Malaysia has declared a state of emergency as the air pollution index soared to extremely hazardous levels on the west coast.

The area is the worst-hit by smoke from fires from Indonesia, an official said.

“We are now in a state of emergency,” a National Security Council official said after the environment department announced that the index had reached 529 in the shipping centre of Port Klang and 531 in the coastal town of Kuala Selangor.

The government said yesterday levels above 500 would trigger a state of emergency.