Haze inflicted countries seek further cooperation to clean air

Officials from the haze- inflicted Southeast Asian countries tried to make joint effort to end the heavy smog that troubles the region despite differences at a ministerial meeting here on Wednesday. The 15th Ministerial Steering Committee Meeting on Transboundary Haze Pollution, which involves environmental ministers from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei and Thailand, was brought forward after thick smoke caused by forest fire on the Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered the worst haze episode in Singapore and part of Malaysia in a decade last month. Malaysian Natural Resources and Environment Minister G. Palanivel stressed at a press conference that both short-term and long-term solutions are needed in order to control the haze. The ministers warned that the haze may reoccur in the coming months as the dry weather is expected to continue. A 2002 regional agreement on transboundary haze pollution and the previous Ministerial Steering Committee meetings, first held in 2006, have so far failed to stop the almost annual occurrence of haze during the monsoon season, as slash-and-burn remains a common practice in Indonesia to clear land for agriculture, especially the lucrative plantations of oil palm. Indonesia is the only member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that yet to ratify the 2002 treaty but Indonesian Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya said the Indonesian government is seeking approval from legislature by early next year. The Indonesian government has sighed the agreement but the proposal was rejected by the parliament in 2008. Indonesia has pointed out that many hotspots were in the plantations won by Malaysian and Singaporean companies. The ministers agreed to share digitized land-use maps and concession maps of the fire-prone areas on "government to government" basis, in a bid to identify those who caused the forest fire. Singapore's Minister for Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan said governments "deterrence" measures should be taken against plantation companies. "We have to put commercial pressure, consumer pressure on the companies, so that they won't embark on unsustainable and irresponsible practices," he said. Balakrishnan said although his government prefers to make public the relating data, "several governments expressed reservation to this approach citing varieties of legal impediment. " Indonesian minister Balthasar insisted that the sharing of concession maps should be on a government-to-government and case- by-case basis. "So basically we arrived at a compromise," Balakrishnan said. " It doesn't go as far as I would like, nevertheless it is still a step forward." Some experts said Malaysia and Singapore are facing a dilemma on the haze issue. As members of ASEAN which upholds the principle of "none interference", Malaysia and Singapore have refrained from pressure Indonesia too hard on the issue. Faizal Parish, senior technical advisor to the ASEAN peatland forests project, said there is no "magic wand" to the haze. In the short term, Parish said governments should strengthen prediction efforts, while streamline responding system and mechanism to the forest fires. Governments should also engage more actively with private sectors, many of whom are also victims of the blazes, instead of only considering them as potential adversaries, he added.