A drought in Southeast Asia has brought an early start to forest fires, principally in Indonesia, which for years have regularly covered much of the region with a choking blanket of smoke haze.
Authorities in the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra have been caught off guard by the fires, most of which are caused by palm oil, and pulp and paper companies burning forests to clear the way for plantations.
Despite laws prohibiting using forest fires to clear land, companies continue to use this method because it is cheap and fast.
