New Straits Times 18 Jun 09;
PUTRAJAYA, Thurs: THE haze currently experienced in the country can worsen if the open burning in the country and abroad is left unchecked, according to an environmental expert.
Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Environmental Sciences Department head Assoc Prof Dr Ahmad Makmom Abdullah said the haze would return occasionally until September due to the El Nino phenomenon.
As such, he said immediate action to monitor and control open burning activities, as stipulated in the Regional Haze Action Plan ratified by Asean member countries, should be implemented to prevent the situation from worsening to that in 1997, he told reporters here today.
Dr Ahmad Makmom said that apart from affecting health, the haze had also incurred losses for the government, especially in the tourism, agriculture and livestock-breeding sectors.
He said that according to a study, the country lost RM420 million in palm oil production and another RM40 million in the fish-breeding sector during the three-month haze in 1997.
The total loss suffered by Southeast Asian countries during the 1997 haze was estimated at US$9 billon (US$1 = RM3.53), he said.
Meanwhile, UPM Environment Management Department chief Assoc Prof Dr Mohd Bakri Ishak said Asean member countries should sit together to find a more systematic approach to ensure that the haze did not recur.
He said that though a treaty on cross-border haze pollution had been signed in 2002, it had failed to avert a recurrence of the problem.
"If we look at the treaty, the country which causes the haze is not held responsible to the country which suffers the consequences. If, for example, Malaysia wants to tackle the haze which originates from open burning activities in Sumatra, Indonesia, we will have to get their permission first.
"This will surely create a conflict or a polemic as time-consuming meetings would have to be convened," he said.
Dr Mohd Bakri also said that Malaysia could actually take legal action against the country which causes the haze but it would go against the Malaysian principle of good neighbourliness as well as the Asean partnership concept. - Bernama
