Malaysia launches three‑day cloud‑seeding over Sarawak to combat haze

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s Department of Disaster Management and Relief (Jabatan Penyelamat dan Kebencanaan), the Meteorological Department and the Royal Malaysian Air Force began a coordinated cloud‑seeding operation over the state of Sarawak on Thursday, aiming to curb the persistent haze that has plagued the region for weeks and to augment dwindling water reservoirs ahead of the upcoming monsoon season.

The three agencies deployed a fleet of C‑130 Hercules aircraft equipped with flares that disperse silver iodide particles into the lower atmosphere, a technique intended to stimulate the formation of rain‑bearing clouds. The operation, scheduled to run for three consecutive days, will focus on the interior highlands of Sarawak, where the majority of the state’s catchment areas lie. Officials said the initiative is part of a broader “rain‑making” programme launched after satellite data and ground reports indicated that smoke from forest fires in Indonesia’s Sumatra and Kalimantan islands, combined with local land‑clearing practices, has driven particulate concentrations above the World Health Organization’s safe limit for several days.

Malaysia’s geographic split between Peninsular Malaysia and the Borneo‑based states of Sabah and Sarawak has long shaped its environmental challenges. While the peninsula’s dense urban centres contend with traffic‑related smog, the eastern states are more vulnerable to trans‑boundary haze that originates from slash‑and‑burn agriculture in neighboring Indonesia. The haze not only degrades air quality but also hampers visibility for aviation, disrupts outdoor work, and threatens public health, especially among the elderly and children. In Sarawak, the haze has coincided with an unusually dry spell that has lowered water levels in key rivers and reservoirs, raising concerns ahead of the monsoon rains that typically replenish the state’s water supply.

The decision to employ cloud seeding reflects a growing willingness among Malaysian authorities to adopt technological interventions in climate adaptation. The Department of Disaster Management, which coordinates emergency responses across the federation’s 13 states and three federal territories, has previously overseen flood mitigation and landslide prevention projects. The Meteorological Department, responsible for forecasting and climate monitoring, has been monitoring the haze’s trajectory using both ground stations and satellite imagery. Meanwhile, the Royal Malaysian Air Force provides the logistical capacity to conduct large‑scale aerial operations, a role it has assumed in past humanitarian missions such as disaster relief after the 2015 Sabah floods.

Critics, however, caution that cloud seeding remains an imperfect science. Environmental NGOs in Malaysia and abroad have warned that the long‑term ecological impacts of silver iodide are not fully understood, and that artificial precipitation may alter local weather patterns in unintended ways. Some scientists also point out that the efficacy of seeding depends heavily on existing atmospheric conditions; without sufficient moisture in the lower troposphere, the injected particles may fail to coalesce into rain droplets. The agencies involved have responded that the operation is being carried out under strict monitoring protocols, with real‑time data collection to assess outcomes and minimise any adverse effects.

The haze episode underscores the broader regional dimension of Southeast Asia’s air‑quality challenges. The same smoke that drifts over Sarawak also affects parts of Kalimantan, Brunei and even the southern Philippines, prompting calls for stronger cross‑border cooperation on fire prevention and land‑use regulation. For neighboring economies, including Taiwan, the haze has indirect implications. Taiwanese firms operating in Malaysia’s semiconductor and electronics supply chains rely on stable logistics and a healthy workforce; prolonged air‑quality degradation can disrupt manufacturing schedules and increase health‑related absenteeism. Moreover, Taiwan’s own meteorological agencies have been tracking the haze’s movement, as the trans‑boundary pollution can influence air‑quality alerts in its southern islands. The cloud‑seeding effort, therefore, is not only a domestic response but also a component of the wider regional effort to mitigate climate‑related disruptions that affect trade, energy consumption and public health across the Indo‑Pacific.