Firefighters working to extinguish a wildfire burning on peatland in Rimba Panjang, Riau province, Indonesia, on July 20. -- PHOTO: AFP
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): More people in South-East Asia are dying from heat worsened by deforestation than in the Congo or Amazon rainforests, despite losing a smaller total area of forest than in the Americas, a recent study led by a British university has found.
Every year in South-east Asia, around 15,680 rural residents die of heat-related complications worsened by deforestation, compared with 9,890 for the tropical regions of Africa and 2,520 for the Americas.
