Haze likely in next three months

The cause: hotter weather plus burning activities in region; Singapore to run 2 new anti-haze programmes in Jambi, Indonesia
Liaw Wy-Cin, Straits Times 24 Jun 08;

BRACE yourselves for bad-air days ahead.

The smoky haze is likely to be back in the next three months as a result of a combination of hotter, drier weather and burning activities in Malaysia and Indonesia.

However, Singapore's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim said the number of hot spots in Indonesia has come down considerably.

'I wouldn't say there will be no haze. I think the hot spots have come down. Indonesia's own plan of action is to reduce the number by 50 per cent. That means there will still be hot spots, but the number will be reduced.'

He added that his own sense of the situation was that efforts on the ground were already in place, but that 'like all plans, there is always a weakest link that we don't understand until it gets implemented'.

The Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre has noted a weakening of the La Nina weather phenomenon, which would have brought wet weather to douse the smoky fires that the region's farmers set.

With the phenomenon weakening, the next three months are expected to be drier than in the same period last year.

The south-west monsoon winds, expected to blow rain away from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, will also bring drier weather, which could set the scene for Singapore to be enveloped in the choking haze.

Dr Yaacob gave this forecast at a press conference following a meeting with his counterparts from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand yesterday.

It was the group's fifth meeting since the setting up of a task force in late 2006 to tackle the problem, which has hit the five countries almost annually since 1997.

Farmers and plantation owners in Indonesia's Sumatra and Borneo islands clear the land by slashing its vegetation and burning it in the middle of the year, ahead of the planting season.

Dr Yaacob and Indonesia's Deputy Minister for Nature Conservation Enhancement and Environmental Degradation Control, Mrs Masnellyarti Hillman, said the containment measures discussed at the meeting centred on involving local communities in combating the haze.

Malaysia, for example, is working with Indonesia to train communities in fire-fighting in Riau province. Both countries are also installing haze-monitoring equipment there.

Dr Yaacob unveiled two programmes Singapore will run with Indonesia's Jambi province in north Sumatra. One is to train farmers to rear fish for export instead of growing crops, to turn them away from slash-and-burn cultivation; the other is aimed at keeping the water level in the area's peatlands up. This is because when they dry out, they catch fire easily.

The two programmes, expected to cost $800,000, come on top of the $1 million set aside earlier for seven Singapore-Jambi programmes.

Of the seven, two have been completed. These provided training for Jambi officials in reading satellite pictures for hot-spot information, and for farmers and officials on eco-friendly farming.

The ministers will meet again in Phuket, Thailand, in October.

ASEAN environment ministers hopeful haze won't be as bad this year
Channel NewsAsia 24 Jun 08;

SINGAPORE : Drier weather over the next three months may trigger more hot spot activities and spell the return of the haze.

But with some measures to contain the Indonesian forest fire situation already in place, regional environment ministers attending the fifth meeting of the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution are hopeful the situation will be better compared to 2006.

At any top-level haze meeting this time of the year, there is always one burning question - will the haze be back?

Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Singapore's Environment and Water Resources Minister, said: "I wouldn't say there is no haze. I think the hot spots have come down. Indonesia's own POA (Programme of Action) is to reduce it by 50 per cent. That means there will still be hot spots, but the number will be reduced.

"My sense is that the efforts on the ground are already in place. Like all plans, there is always a weakest link that we don't understand until it gets implemented."

Indonesia has budgeted some US$87 million on land and forest fire control.

Masnellyarti Hilman, Indonesia's Deputy Minister for Nature Conservation, Enhancement and Environmental Degradation, said the government has informed the people not use fires to clear their land.

"... we'll do the monitoring. We'll come to the district level to check... and (work) together with the local government," the minister added.

Indonesia is also receiving help from its ASEAN neighbours.

Singapore is concentrating its efforts on an area called Jambi, which - if successful - can be used as a model for other Indonesian regions tackling the haze problem. It has already committed over US$700,000 for some seven projects there.

Singapore and Indonesia are now looking at two new action programmes, costing over half a million US dollars.

In the first programme, Singapore Food Industries will train farmers in fishing, so they can develop an alternate livelihood. The second involves managing the vast tracts of peatland in Indonesia, which can smoulder and burn for a long time.

Malaysia, one of five other countries at the meeting, has been focusing its efforts in Riau Province. From next month, it will spend US$600,000 to train farmers in zero-burning techniques and fire-fighting, and install an air monitoring station.

The ministers will meet again in October in Phuket, Thailand. - CNA/ms

Goodbye haze, hello fresh fish?
Singapore expandsprogrammes in Jambi to tackle forest fires
Neo Chai Chin, Today Online 24 Jun 08;

IT IS a first for the Jambi Master Plan — and it may mean not only :curbing the threat of haze to the region during the dry season, but also a fresh source of seafood for Singapore from the Sumatran province.:

Yesterday, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim announced two new programmes under the master plan, which will see Singapore involved in the management of fire-prone peatland and the development of alternative livelihoods for Jambi natives.

Both programmes will, for the first time, involve the private sector — Dutch firm Delft Hydraulics will conduct peat management training on the “ground, managerial and scientific levels” at Jambi, while Singapore Food Industries (SFI) will help raise aquaculture standards with the help of experts engaged by the company.

SFI will help Jambi’s farmers improve the size and quality of their yields to meet Singapore’s Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) import requirements, said Mr Roger Yeo, SFI’s chief executive, when contacted by Today.

SFI imported 1,173 metric tonnes of seafood last year — just 0.7 per cent of Singapore’s total consumption — so, “if the project goes well, it will allow SFI to trade competitively”, said Mr Yeo.

Both projects are expected to cost about $800,000 and should be ready for implementation by the year’s end, said the National Environment Agency.

Dr Yaacob addressed reporters together with his Malaysian, Indonesian, Bruneian and Thai counterparts at the Pan Pacific Hotel after talks on transboundary haze pollution. The ministers praisedIndonesia’s efforts in reducing the numberof hotspots by half since 2006 and agreed that continued vigilance was needed to prevent land and forest fires, which contribute to the region’s haze each year.

Malaysia is also lending its expertise to Indonesia. It signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Indonesia’s Riau government on June 3 to build capacity in zero-burning techniques, fire-fighting and the installation of an air-quality monitoring system. The programmes will begin next month.

Indonesia will also hold a simulation exercise in forest and land fire control in central Kalimantan next month, and will work with the local authorities in Riau province on peatland management.

Airplanes are also on standby to put out fires, said Ms Masnellyarti Hillman, Indonesia’s Deputy Minister for Nature Conservation Enhancement and Environmental Degradation Control.

When asked to predict the haze situation this year — which typically surfaces during the dry months of May to October — Dr Yaacob said the various governments would “work very hard and hope for the best”.

“I wouldn’t say that there will be no haze,” he said, but added that if all goes well, “the situation will be slightly better than what we had in 2006” — the last time our Pollutant Standards Index hit a high of 128, a level considered unhealthy.

Measures taken to combat haze in South-east Asia
Lynn Kan, Business Times 24 Jun 08;

MEASURES are in place to ward off a bad bout of haze during the coming dry season, Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said yesterday at a meeting of regional environment ministers.

The two-day meeting, which ended yesterday, brought together environment ministers and officials from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Brunei. With latest updates showing an encouraging 51 per cent reduction in hot spots in Sumatra and Kalimantan, they are pressing on to include private sector companies in plans to combat the haze.

In the past two years, Singapore and Malaysia have aided Indonesia financially and technologically to combat haze on the ground. Singapore has partnered Jambi province by committing $1 million to various programmes, such as training in the interpretation of satellite photos and educating villagers on sustainable land clearing.

Dutch company Delft Hydraulics will soon provide expertise and consultation on managing peatlands in Jambi, as peat fires are extremely difficult to extinguish and susceptible to burning out of control.

Singapore and Jambi officials are looking at ways to wean farmers off of slash-and-burn agriculture to encourage them to take up aquaculture instead. Singapore Food Industries has been roped in to help provide commercial channels for agriculture products.

Aside from Jambi, Riau province has worked with the Malaysian government to prevent forest fires. In June, Riau and Malaysia signed a Memorandum of Understanding that included a commitment to promote zero burning and train community fire-fighting units to handle small fires.

'We have the necessary plans in place and we've worked very hard,' said Dr Ibrahim. 'We won't say there will be no haze, because every plan has a weak link that will not show until it is executed - but we certainly hope for the best.'

Indonesia`s haze plan praised by region
Antara 24 Jun 08;

Singapore (ANTARA News) - Regional officials on Monday praised Indonesia's efforts to reduce a haze caused by forest fires which regularly choke Southeast Asia.

The blazes, set by large plantations and farmers, send smoke into Indonesian skies and across boundaries into neighbouring countries each year during the May to October dry season.

"I wouldn't say that there will be no haze," Yaacob Ibrahim, Singapore's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, was quoted by AFP as telling reporters after talks among regional officials on ways to tackle the haze.

"But having said that, we also noted the efforts of our Indonesian counterparts, where they have set a target and reaffirmed the target to reduce the hotspots by 50 percent -- which we welcome."

Yaacob said the target gave cause for optimism that "the situation will be slightly better" than in 2006, the last severe outbreak of the haze.

Singapore joined representatives from Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand for Monday's talks.

"Over the next few months, increased hotspot activities may occur in the fire-prone areas of Sumatra, peninsula Malaysia and Borneo, particularly during extended periods of dry weather," the committee said in a statement.

It said parts of Southeast Asia "can expect drier weather in the next three months as compared to the same period last year."

Indonesia's Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said in April that hotspots had been reduced by 51 percent last year in key provinces and that improvement should continue.

Firefighting helicopters will be put on standby in the most fire-prone provinces, said Masyud, director of the information centre at Indonesia's ministry of forestry.

"Indonesia is highly concerned with land and forest fires and we are prepared to manage it if it happens this year," Masyud said.

"So far the weather has been kind. There has been a lot of rain."

The worst haze outbreak in 1997-98 cost the region an estimated nine billion dollars by disrupting air travel, tourism and other business.

Officials will hold further talks in Thailand in October. (*)