ASEAN ministers warn that haze could return in July

Low Mei Mei Channel NewsAsia 30 Apr 10;

SINGAPORE: The haze could return in July if no concrete action is taken to fight the forest fires in Indonesia.

ASEAN environment ministers issued the warning at a meeting on transboundary haze in East Kalimantan, Indonesia on Friday.

The ministers noted that during the current Inter-Monsoon season from May to June, brief dry spells can be expected. This could lead to occasional surges of hotspot activities in the region.

Increased hotspot activities can be expected in the fire-prone areas in the region during the traditional dry season from June to September. This may lead to transboundary smoke haze pollution from July.

Despite the weakening of the El Nino phenomenon, the region experienced an increase in hotspots from March to April, compared with the same period last year.

The ministers agreed to step up vigilance and work harder to prevent and fight land and forest fires.

They also pledged to reduce the number of hotspots by 20 per cent every year.

The ministers noted the progress in the collaboration between Indonesia and Singapore for the Muaro Jambi Regency.

Seven action programmes have been successfully completed under the Jambi Master Plan.

An additional project on Freshwater Aquaculture Training has also been completed while the Jambi Peatland Management Project is ongoing.

Senior officials will meet again in July in Sarawak, Malaysia to review the fire and haze situation, as well as ongoing activities and appropriate action.

- CNA/ir

Fears over haze as hot spots increase
More forest fires in region last month despite wetter weather
Amresh Gunasingham, Straits Times 1 May 10;

FOREST fires increased in the region last month, prompting fears of worsening haze in the months ahead.

Asean environment ministers meeting to discuss the perennial issue yesterday in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, warned that with drier weather looming, action would have to be stepped up against illegal loggers setting fire to the forest.

It came even as Indonesia announced a new haze action plan in which it formally pledged, for the first time, to cut its hot spots by 20 per cent a year over the next decade.

The world's third largest emitter of heat-trapping greenhouse gases sees the curbing of deforestation activities as a key component of its previously announced commitment to cut carbon emissions by 26 per cent by 2020.

But the number of hot spots in the region has increased despite wetter weather in the last few weeks and a predicted weakening of the El Nino weather pattern bringing hotter and drier weather.

Satellite pictures detected 3,166 hot spots in the region over last month, which is higher than the 2,427 detected for the same period last year. Earlier last month, Indonesian weather officials warned periods of severe drought since the start of the year could last till June in parts of East Java, raising the risk of fires.

A spokesman for the National Environment Agency said the dry season here would likely begin next month.

The increased hot spot activity has stoked fears of the haze returning during the traditional burning season between July and September, when farmers and logging companies in Sumatra and Kalimantan take to razing the land.

During the United Nations-led climate talks in Copenhagen last year, Jakarta came under fire from local environmental activists for not doing enough to protect the country's forests. It has also yet to ratify a 2002 Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution.

Ms Liana Bratasida, Assistant Minister at Indonesia's Ministry of Environment, told The Straits Times late last year that her country's parliamentarians were stalling because of a perceived lack of action by Singapore and Malaysia against illegal logging companies who fuel a demand for timber in both countries.

There have been plenty of rainy days of late, unlike in February, with above average rain in many parts of the island.