The southeast Asian Borneo states of Sabah, Sarawak (eastern Malaysia) and East Kalimantan (Indonesia) figured prominently in the news last year. The largest island in the world, an area of stunning natural beauty, experienced environmental conditions of nightmarish quality. People and orang-utans were burnt out of their homes, the population suffered the threat of starvation, crop losses, drought, breathing problems, and a rasping pollution - followed by an economic crisis. The environmental conditions were partly triggered by the El Nino effect.
