For several months in 1997 and 1998, a thick pall of smoke covered much of Southeast Asia. Thousands of forest fires burning simultaneously on the Indonesian islands of Kalimantan (Borneo) and Sumatra, are thought to have destroyed about 8,000 mi² (20,000 km²) of primary forest, or an area about the size of New Jersey. The smoke generated by these fires spread over eight countries and 75 million people, covering an area larger than Europe. Hazy skies and the smell of burning forests could be detected in Hong Kong, nearly 2,000 mi (3,200 km) away. The air quality in Singapore and the city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, just across the Strait of Malacca from Indonesia, was worse than any industrial region in the world. In towns such as Palembang, Sumatra, and Banjarmasin, Kalimantan, in the heart of the fires, the air pollution index frequently passed 800, twice the level classified in the United...