Asean ministers agree to remain vigilant and step up control efforts
Straits Times 9 May 12;
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Environment ministers from Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, meeting here over transboundary haze pollution, have warned about drier weather later this year.
They said Asean's own weathermen had forecast that the prevailing neutral conditions - involving neither the El Nino nor La Nina climate patterns - are expected to last until at least October, according to a statement issued yesterday at the end of the 13th Meeting of the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee (MSC) on Transboundary Haze Pollution.
The ministers agreed to remain vigilant and step up their efforts to minimise any possible occurrence of transboundary haze from land and forest fires during extended periods of dry weather in the coming months.
They noted that from February to April, the MSC Mekong countries were affected by smoke haze from open burning activities in the Mekong sub-region. In northern Thailand, for example, eight provinces including Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai were shrouded in haze, the worst to hit the country in five years.
The authorities are most concerned about PM10 emissions, which are ultra-fine particles of soot and ash about one-seventh the diameter of a strand of human hair.
PM10 concentrations in affected regions exceeded national standards and reached unhealthy levels.
In the southern Asean region, however, the hot spots were generally subdued due to wet weather conditions during the same period.
At the meeting, the ministers also noted the significant progress in developing national Fire Danger Rating Systems (FDRS) in Malaysia and Indonesia. These provide early warnings of potential fires, which enables preparedness and preventive actions during dry weather periods.
Given their usefulness, the ministers agreed to recommend the development of an Asean-wide FDRS to the Asean leaders.
'I hope we are on the verge or the threshold to launch an Asean-wide FDRS, based on real-time data from all the countries, integrated, analysed and presented in a way that will be accessible to everyone,' Singapore's Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told journalists on the sidelines of the meeting.
'This is something which has been done for some time now. Malaysia has been taking the lead. It requires all the countries to install the automated weather system as well as to supply the necessary on-the-ground data, things like where your peatlands are, where your forests cover.
'But the important thing is, it allows you to make a predictive model to access which areas are at risk,' he said.
The MSC countries also shared their experiences in preventing and mitigating land and forest fires. For example, Malaysia implemented a fire prevention and peatland management programme which significantly reduced the number of hot spots in the project area by more than 70 per cent last year, compared to 2010.
Environment Ministers To Seek Leaders' Consideration On Development Of Proposed Asean-Wide FDRS
Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah Bernama 8 May 12;
SINGAPORE, May 8 (Bernama) -- Environment Ministers of the Sub-Regional Ministerial Meeting (MSC) on Transboundary Haze Pollution have expressed appreciation on the significant progress in developing national Fire Danger Rating Systems (FDRS) in Malaysia and Indonesia.
The FDRS provides early warning on potential fire occurrences, which enables preparedness and preventive actions during dry weather periods.
Considering the usefulness of the FDRS, the Ministers agreed to recommend the development of the proposed ASEAN-wide FDRS to be considered by the ASEAN Leaders," they said in a statement released by Singapore's Ministry of Environment and Water Resources here Tuesday.
Environment Ministers and their representatives from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand met at the 13th Meeting of the Sub-Regional MSC on Transboundary Haze Pollution in Brunei today.
They noted that the ASEAN-wide FDRS map was being regularly updated by Malaysia while the Malaysian and ASEAN-wide FDRS maps were also displayed on Google Earth.
Both Malaysia and Indonesia have further refined their systems by integrating weather data and ground conditions such as fire prone peat areas, installation of more automatic weather stations to improve further the resolution of FDRS, and to improve on the short term and medium term forecasts.
Other MSC countries have expressed their interest to consider establishing their national FDRS with the assistance of Malaysia and Indonesia.
The Ministers noted that from February to April 2012, MSC Mekong countries were affected by smoke haze from open burning activities in the Mekong Sub-Region while PM10 concentrations exceeded national standards and reached unhealthy levels.
As for the southern Asean region, the hotspots were generally subdued due to wet weather conditions during the same period.
The Ministers noted the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre's (ASMC's) weather outlook for the region in the coming months, in particular the prevailing neutral conditions (neither El Nino nor La Nina) expected to last at least until October 2012.
However, drier weather may be expected during the coming traditional dry season between June and mid-October 2012.
The Ministers noted that MSC countries are closely monitoring the regional hotspots and weather outlook.
They said the update of fire and haze situation and recognised various initiatives undertaken by the MSC countries to prevent and mitigate land and forest fires.
In particular, Brunei is currently undertaking the expansion and improvement of its existing air quality monitoring network, and has put in place a hotline for public query and receipt of complaints of open burning.
Malaysia shared its experience and achievements in implementing fire prevention and peat land management programme, which has significantly reduced the number of hotspots in the project area by more than 70 per cent in 2011 as compared with 2010.
Thailand has promoted the concept of Zero-Burning Village and implemented the Guidelines on Agricultural Residual Burning. Indonesia shared its experience in mapping burnt areas utilizing satellite imagery.
The Ministers noted that the process of ratification of the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution by Indonesia was underway.
They acknowledged the successful completion of the Indonesia-Singapore collaboration in Jambi Province and the Indonesia-Malaysia collaboration in Riau Province.
They further noted that Malaysia and Singapore have offered to continue their collaboration with Indonesia, while Indonesia welcomed the interest expressed by Malaysia and Singapore and informed that this is being considered by the Coordinating Ministry for People Welfare.
The Ministers also noted Brunei's interest to explore possible areas of collaboration with Indonesia, similar to that of Malaysia-Indonesia and Singapore-Indonesia.
Indonesia would consider the proposal and both sides would discuss the details further.
-- BERNAMA
