Indonesians sue president over haze – can it clear the air?

Indonesians sue president over haze – can it clear the air?

With 175,000 sickened, Indonesians are taking the government to court – where environmental cases routinely go to die

For months, the air over West Kalimantan has been thick enough to taste. Now, some of the province’s residents are taking the government to court over it.

But nowhere has been worse hit than West Kalimantan, where more than 48,000 hectares (185 square miles) of land and forest have burned since the start of the year, according to Indonesia’s national disaster management agency.

Of the more than 175,000 acute respiratory infections Indonesia’s Health Ministry has recorded so far, over 116,000 were in West Kalimantan, with nearly of those 28,000 patients under the age of five.