In the middle of 1997, forest fires burning in Indonesia began to spread thick clouds of smoke and haze to neighbouring countries. By the time the fires were finally out in 1998, some 8 million hectares of land had burned while millions of people suffered the effects of air pollution. The fires - deliberately set for the most part, and exacerbated by the drought conditions of El Niņo - were one of the century's worst environmental disasters. This book assesses the damage caused by the fires and haze and puts them in terms that are readily understandable: dollars and cents. Written while the fires of 1998 were still raging, it looks at the damages suffered by Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore during the first outbreak of fires, in 1997.

The study was done by the Economy and Environment Program for SE Asia and the World Wide Fund for Nature, Indonesia. Its summary findings were widely quoted and played an important role in policy discussions in the region. This book presents in full detail the methods used to obtain those estimates and elaborates on the policy recommendations tabled in 1998.

To order, visit the publisher's website. In addition, a soft-cover edition for Canada, the United States, and Europe is available from IDRC at www.idrc.ca/books.