More than half Jakarta’s 268,000-strong civil service has been asked to work from home in an attempt to clear the city’s air pollution. The Indonesian capital was ranked by IQAir, a data company, as the most polluted in the world on 9 August and there’s concern a cloud of smog could overshadow the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit taking place from 5-7 September. For President Joko Widodo the issue has become personal. He’s had a persistent cough for a month and suggested air pollution might be the cause. As dry weather worsens the haze above the city of 10 million, the government is mulling a pollution tax and even making masks mandatory. Indonesia tourism minister Sandiaga Uno recently highlighted that Jakarta’s smog had led to economic losses of $1.4 billion – and pointed to the clearer skies above Beijing as an example to follow.
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