Dry season expected in Singapore in third quarter

Channelnewsasia 8 Apr 08

SINGAPORE : The third quarter of this year could be a dry season which could lead to haze resulting from hotspots in Indonesia.

The ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre has forecast that the prevailing La Nina is expected to gradually weaken and return to neutral conditions by that time.

This was on the agenda at the 4th meeting of the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution in Putrajaya, Malaysia on Tuesday. The committee recognised the urgency of tackling land and forest fires that result in haze pollution, and also preventing and mitigating such events.

In fact, Indonesia's efforts last year reduced the number of hotspots by half, in both Sumatra and Kalimantan, compared to the year before. Wetter weather conditions also helped.

Indonesia wants to reduce its number of hotspots further. Under its National Action Plan on Climate Change, Indonesia has targeted to reduce the number of hotspots by 50% in 2009, 75% in 2012 and 95% in 2025, using 2006 as a baseline.

Central and local government agencies, as well as the private sector will also spend more money - to the tune of 800 billion rupiah (S$120.6 million) - on land and forest fire control this year.

The ministers are scheduled to meet again on 26 June 2008 in Singapore. - CNA /ls

Haze could worsen this year: ASEAN ministers
Jalil Hamid, Reuters 8 Apr 08;

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (Reuters) - Smog from forest fires, which costs Southeast Asian economies billions in lost tourist dollars, could worsen as changing weather patterns cause an unusually dry spell, the region's environment ministers warned on Tuesday.

The effects of the La Nina weather phenomenon are expected to wear off in the third quarter of 2008, which could result in arid conditions, the ministers said, quoting a forecast from the ASEAN Meteorological Centre.

"This could lead to drier periods and the possibility of escalating hot-spot activities during the coming dry season," environment ministers from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Brunei said in a statement.

La Nina refers to an abnormal cooling of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, while its counterpart El Nino refers to a warming of surface temperatures.

Since 1997, peat and forest fires in Indonesia's Sumatra and Borneo islands have triggered a choking haze which billows across the region, affecting Singapore, Malaysia and parts of Thailand.

The ASEAN ministers had gathered in the Malaysian administrative capital to discuss the haze, which usually occurs around mid-year as farmers and timber and plantation firms in the region openly burn plots of land ahead of the planting season.

ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, groups the countries of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and the Philippines.

"We have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best," Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar told reporters.

"We are not going to delude ourselves that we are going to wipe out all the haze. There will be some burning, some haze."

Near-annual bouts of haze have made many people ill across a wide area of Southeast Asia, cost local economies billions of dollars and badly hit the tourism and airline sectors.

Singapore appealed to tourists not to avoid the region during the period as has happened in the past.

Southeast Asia is a magnet for big-spending visitors from the Middle East in July and August, as they seek to escape the scorching summer back home.

"Please come and visit the region," Singapore Environment Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said.

(Writing by Liau Y-Sing; Editing by Valerie Lee)