Indonesia to ratify ASEAN agreement on trans-boundary haze pollution

Antara 7 Mar 11;

Palembang (ANTARA News) - Indonesia will soon ratify the ASEAN Agreement on Trans-boundary Haze Pollution (AATHP) that has been ratified by eight ASEAN members so far, environment minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta said.

"We will ratify it soon," he said after opening a coordination meeting on Sumatra ecological region here on Monday.

He admitted it would give a big burden on Indonesia. "By ratifying it it means we have to implement it while forest and bush fires still often happen in Indonesia to cause haze," he said.

He said the government however would work harder to be able to prepare things needed to support the ratification.

"We will carry out a number of programs including encouraging the people to care about fire incidents which still often happen in a number of regions," he said.

He said he would also declare two provinces namely Riau and West Kalimantan as the pilot projects for it.

When asked about the date of the ratification the minister only said that it would be done soon. "We will try to do it immediately and if possible it would be within this year," he said.(*)

Editor: Aditia Maruli