Singapore hoping Indonesia ratifies haze pollution agreement next year

Antara 24 Nov 10;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Singapore hopes that Indonesia will ratify the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution in 2011 when it assumes the chair of the regional organization, a spokesman said.

Singapore`s Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo said in a press release received here on Wednesday the agreement was signed by the Indonesian government in 2002 but it had yet to be ratified by the Indonesian House of Representatives.

"We will continue to encourage the DPR to soon ratify the agreement with an approach that the most interested party to solve this haze problem should be Indonesia itself because millions of people living near the forest fires are affected," Yeo said, adding that haze was not a respecter of national boundaries and therefore countries in the Southeast Asian region must continue to work closely together on the issue.

Last October, Singapore was seriously affected by haze from forest and peat land fires in Sumatra. In fact, there was a day when Singapore`s Pollutant Standard Index hit the "unhealthy" range.

As a neighboring country and particularly the party which had also been impacted by the haze, Yeo said, Singapore had been collaborating with the provincial governments of Jambi and Riau respectively on various fire and haze prevention programs.

He said the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee (MSC) on Transboundary Haze Pollution also met regularly. "These efforts have helped to mitigate the haze problem in the last three years. But our experience this year shows that more needs to be done," said the minister.

But Yeo also admitted Indonesia had already made significant efforts to tackle the haze problem during the past years.

Earlier, Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa said the government had done its best to prevent forest fires from happening during the past four years.
"Do not overlook Indonesia`s success in dealing with forest fires between 2007 and 2008," said Natalegawa.

Environmental Affairs Ministry data showed that there was a decrease of 80 percent in the number of hot spots in Riau province this year compared to last year`s figure.

During the period January-October 2010, there had been 1,606 hot spots in Riau Province, and the highest number was in October with 517 hot spots.

Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said last October`s haze problem was caused by fires in oilpalm plantation areas in Riau province.(*)