Indonesia set to ratify haze treaty by early 2014

Muuniandy Jegathesan (AFP) Google News 17 Jul 13;

KUALA LUMPUR — Indonesia said Wednesday it hopes to ratify a regional treaty by early next year to fight smog from forest fires that brings misery to millions, but an activist said tougher steps are needed.

"We hope we can ratify the agreement by the end of the year or early next year," the country's Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya told reporters.

Earlier Wednesday Kambuaya and environment ministers from four other ASEAN countries, which together form the Southeast Asian bloc's "haze committee", met to discuss ways to prevent the Indonesian forest fires.

The blazes on Sumatra island, caused by the slash and burn method of land clearance for cultivation, left neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia choking in June on the worst haze in more than a decade.

The air pollution scared off tourists, forced schools to close and caused a rise in respiratory illnesses.

Indonesia is the only member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations which has still not ratified its Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, brokered in 2002.

The treaty aims to stop cross-border smog from forest fires by requiring parties to prevent burning, monitor prevention efforts, exchange information and provide mutual help.

It also binds signatories to "respond promptly" to requests for information from countries hit by the smoke, and to take steps to implement their obligations under the treaty.

T. Jayabalan, a public health consultant and adviser to Friends of the Earth Malaysia, praised Jakarta's move to vow to ratify the treaty but warned that lax law enforcement meant the smog problem would not go away.

"It is a lukewarm measure. You can have all the regulations, but if enforcement is lax, we will continue to have haze," he told AFP.

Jayabalan said large swathes of combustible peatland in Sumatra also meant enforcement would be difficult.

"What we need is meaningful self-regulation. Public health should override profits," he said. "We need a code of practice which includes deterrent measures to prevent burning, where directors of companies are liable to be jailed."

Indonesia has blamed its parliament for the long delay in ratifying the haze agreement.

Jakarta had sought legislators' approval for ratification, but the proposal was rejected in 2008.

The pact has again been submitted to the legislature.

Kambuaya said eight companies are being investigated in connection with the recent haze crisis and the government would identify them "as soon as possible".

He said Jakarta was prepared to share concession maps of fire-prone areas with other governments, but they would not be made available to the public as Singapore had requested.

The concession maps show who has the right to plant crops or log particular tracts of land, allowing them to be investigated and prosecuted for fires.

"We are not allowed to publish concession maps to the public," he said.

Singapore's Environment Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said his country compromised to share such data only among governments "after intense consultations... in the aftermath of the worst haze episode that we have ever experienced".

"We told the other ministers quite frankly that this could not be business as usual," he said in a statement on Facebook. "It is a pity that we could not get greater transparency and public access."

The Sumatra fires have been largely blamed on palm oil firms using the illegal but cheap method of burning vast tracts of rainforest and peatland to clear them for planting.

Besides Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, Thailand and Brunei also took part in the regional meeting.

Faizal Parish, senior technical adviser to ASEAN's peatland forests project, said there was no quick fix for the dreaded haze.

"There is no magic wand... it is going to take a long time to reverse the situation," he said, adding that with dry weather expected there could be more haze in the coming months.

Asean Welcomes Indonesia's Seriousness To Ratify Haze Agreement
Bernama 17 Jul 13;

KUALA LUMPUR, July 17 (Bernama) -- Asean has welcomed Indonesia's commitment and seriousness to combat the prolonged haze situation, by agreeing to ratify the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution.

It's secretary-general, Le Luong Minh, said the move showed the Indonesian Government was ready to mobilise available resources to put out fires and eradicate the haze problem.

In June, forest fires on the Indonesian island of Sumatra left neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia choking on the worst haze in more than a decade.

"This is the spirit of cooperation commended, and with this success, we are able to achieve our agreements," he said.

Le was speaking to reporters after the joint press conference here on the final day of a three-day task force meeting to seek a solution to the haze problem.

Malaysia hosted the 15th Meeting of the Technical Working Group and Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution.

Environment ministers from Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand gathered for the meeting, which began on Monday.

Earlier, Indonesian Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya said the country hoped to ratify the regional treaty by year-end or early 2014 to fight smog from forest fires which brought misery to millions in the region.

Indonesia is the only member of Asean that has yet to ratify the bloc's Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution brokered in 2002.

Jakarta has sought parliament approval to ratify a 2002 pact on haze pollution which has been signed by all its partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. But the proposal was rejected in 2008.

Le also urged for continued vigilance on the possibility of a recurrence of the haze and ways to improve the system of monitoring.

"Countries concerned should be ready to train and educate the authorities and relevant bodies to prevent the haze situation," he noted.

On concession maps, the Asean secretary-general said it was developed by Singapore and the decision to disclose the map publicly, would be decided in October's Asean Leaders' Summit in Brunei Darussalam.

Meanwhile, Singapore's Environment and Water Resources Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan hoped Indonesia would enforce its own laws to make a big difference, to mitigate forest burning activities in Riau and Jambi.

-- BERNAMA

ASEAN welcomes Indonesia's commitment to ratify haze pact
Channel NewsAsia 17 Jul 13;

KUALA LUMPUR - ASEAN has welcomed Indonesia's commitment and seriousness to combat the prolonged haze situation by agreeing to ratify the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution.

Its secretary-general, Le Luong Minh, said the move showed the Indonesian government was ready to mobilise available resources to put out fires and eradicate the haze problem.

In June, forest fires on the Indonesian island of Sumatra left neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia choking on the worst haze in more than a decade.

"This is the spirit of cooperation commended, and with this success, we are able to achieve our agreements," he said.

Le was speaking to reporters after the joint news conference in Kuala Lumpur on the final day of a three-day taskforce meeting to seek a solution to the haze problem.

Malaysia hosted the 15th Meeting of the Technical Working Group and Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution.

Environment ministers from Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand gathered for the meeting, which began on Monday.

Earlier Wednesday, Indonesian Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya said the country hoped to ratify the regional treaty by year-end or early 2014 to fight smog from forest fires which brought misery to millions in the region.

Indonesia is the only member of ASEAN that has yet to ratify the bloc's Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution brokered in 2002.

Jakarta has sought parliamentary approval to ratify a 2002 pact on haze pollution which has been signed by all its partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). But the proposal was rejected in 2008.

Le also urged continued vigilance on the possibility of a recurrence of the haze and ways to improve the system of monitoring.

"Countries concerned should be ready to train and educate the authorities and relevant bodies to prevent the haze situation," he noted.

The ministers agreed to launch a joint haze monitoring system developed by Singapore at a cost of $100,000.

But this is subject to approval at the ASEAN Leaders' Summit in October this year.

A key component in this system is the sharing of concession maps, which when combined with satellite imagery, allows governments to pinpoint errant companies responsible for the fires.

Countries like Indonesia have agreed to share the maps with other governments but not make them public - which falls short of what Singapore has asked for.

They say legal and confidentiality issues prevent them from making maps public.

Singapore's Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said: "I'm somewhat disappointed at the slow progress. So when they raised the objection that their laws don't allow the public access to their data, the fallback position was then share it at a government level, the civil service level, so there will still be a joint monitoring system...

"We didn't get everything we wanted. We would prefer that all these data be available in public domain. Greater transparency does put pressure on companies and helps to ensure that they behave themselves.

"Nevertheless, I think this is still one step forward, that we can share data, that companies will know these data have been shared amongst the civil servants."

Dr Balakrishnan also hoped Indonesia would enforce its own laws to make a big difference, to mitigate forest burning activities in Riau and Jambi.

- BERNAMA/CNA/ir

Asean okays system to monitor haze
Rozanna Latiff and Nuradilla Noorazam New Straits Times 18 Jul 13;

MAP-SHARING: It will detect those responsible for causing forest fires

KUALA LUMPUR: ASEAN environment ministers have recommended the adoption of a joint haze-monitoring system (HMS) to weed out those responsible for haze-causing forest fires.

The system, developed by Singapore, relies on satellite images of hot spots and may be used in tandem with official land-use and concession maps to pinpoint owners of the land on which the fires occur.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri G. Palanivel said Indonesia and Malaysia had agreed to share the maps only on a government-to-government basis.

“We are prepared to share the maps on all fire-prone areas and peatlands but they cannot be disclosed to the public,” he said during a joint press conference after the 15th meeting of the Asean sub-regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution yesterday.

The meeting was held after two days of discussions between environment taskforce officials from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei and Indonesia on short- and long-term solutions against recurrent haze.

The talks, originally scheduled next month, had been brought forward after haze from forest fires in Sumatra and Riau engulfed parts
of Malaysia and Singapore recently.

Singaporean Environment and Water Resources Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said HMS was expected to be formally launched at an Asean leaders’ summit in October.

He voiced his disappointment that the concession map data could not be made publicly available but acknowledged that progress was being made towards bringing those responsible for forest fires to justice.

“The talks did not go as far as I’d like but they are still a step forward.

“The companies will know that the data is being shared and that action can be taken against them at the local level (if they cause fires).”

Indonesian Environment Minister Dr Balthasar Kambuaya said the country’s strict regulations about public information and transparency made it difficult for the concession maps to be made available to the public.

Instead, the maps will be made available on a case-to-case basis upon request.

On another matter, the ministers commended Indonesia’s commitment to speed up the ratification of the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, planned for early next year.

In response, Balthasar said the documents for ratification were pending review at Parliament and were expected to be passed by the end of the year.

He said the Indonesian government welcomed the offers for bilateral collaboration projects from Malaysia and Singapore and was identifying the areas of cooperation.

The ministers noted efforts taken by Indonesia to mitigate the occurrence of fires in its peat lands and fire-prone areas, expressing their appreciation for the implementation of Indonesia’s plan of action in dealing with transboundary haze pollution.

Haze meeting: Govts agree to share concession maps
Woo Sian Boon Today Online 18 Jul 13;

KUALA LUMPUR — Despite Indonesia committing to ratify the regional pact on transboundary haze pollution by early next year, at the latest, and agreeing to share digitised concession maps with other governments, Singapore’s Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan left yesterday’s regional meeting on the haze problem “disappointed (but) not surprised”, in his own words.

The 15th Meeting of the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee (MSC) on Transboundary Haze was held in Kuala Lumpur. Last week, Dr Balakrishnan spelt out in Parliament four outcomes that Singapore was seeking at the meeting.

He told the Singapore media after the meeting yesterday that he had to push hard — to the extent of persuading other leaders during a tea break — to get the countries to agree to share the concession maps at government-to-government level, subject to the approval of ASEAN leaders at a summit in October.

This was a compromise from what the Republic had wanted, which was for the detailed maps to be made available to the public.

Only two of the four outcomes that Singapore had sought were fully met after the four-hour meeting: Getting the participating countries — Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Thailand — to involve high-level officials from all relevant ministries and agencies from each country in the MSC process, and getting a commitment from Indonesia to ratify the ASEAN Transboundary Haze Pollution Agreement “expeditiously”.

Singapore was unable to get an agreement from Indonesia to renew their collaboration to reduce forest fires at Jambi and other provinces if possible, with Indonesia issuing a noncommittal response to offers of bilateral collaborations from Malaysia and Singapore.

While it welcomed the offers, Indonesia is “currently identifying the areas of cooperation which will maximise and bring mutual benefits for all parties concerned”, a press released issued after the meeting said.

Singapore had also hoped to get the participating countries to submit their concession maps and agree a date for the public launch of the ASEAN Sub-Regional Haze Monitoring System (HMS) platform to enable identification errant companies engaging in slash-and-burn practices.

The computerised HMS platform — which Singapore developed in the past year — uses hot spot data, high-resolution satellite pictures and concession maps to help hold companies accountable for fires in their areas. It was unveiled and demonstrated during closed door briefings that were held since Monday but some governments — understood to be Malaysia and Indonesia — expressed reservations about its use, citing a variety of legal impediments, said Dr Balakrishnan. “A year ago, Singapore had been tasked to develop the HMS… We developed the system and demonstrated it to them… then they came up with this reservation about making concession data public,” he said.

A tea break that made the difference

In the end, he brokered a compromise during a 20-minute tea break. “I told them I cannot go back empty handed,” Dr Balakrishnan said.

He added: “My main focus was to make sure that they do share that data, so when they raised the objection that their laws do not allow the public access to their data, the fallback position was … share it at a government level … so that there would still be a joint monitoring system.”

On whether he was satisfied with the outcomes, Dr Balakrishan — who was accompanied at the meeting by Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Grace Fu — said: “We didn’t get everything that we wanted but nonetheless, I think there is some progress.” Still, the progress was “slow”, he said.

On the use of the HMS platform, he said that the Singapore Government is working with non-governmental organisations informally. “There are some things that we can share, the high-res photos that we’ve purchased ... we can make available ... I would say that as far as the public is concerned, they will still get data,” he said.

At a joint press conference earlier, Malaysia’s Environment Minister G Palanivel explained that both Malaysia and Indonesia were “very strict” on the use of concession maps. “At the same time, we are ready to provide (maps) of all the fire-prone areas … Indonesia says that it has to be government-to-government, so we agreed to that,” he said.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Mr Faizal Parish, a Senior Technical Advisor of ASEAN’s peatland forests project, told reporters that because of Indonesia’s complex system of land allocation, concession maps used for identifying hotspots may not match with the actual land allocation. Said Mr Parish: “There is maybe some valid concern from the Indonesian government that if they make (available to the public) the wrong map … then legal action could be taken against the government by the companies concerned, (for) bringing their names into disrepute by making effectively false claims.”

However, Indonesia’s Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya rejected Mr Parish’s suggestion that his government was worried of potential lawsuits. He said that his country’s “regulations regarding transparency and publicly available information bar us from releasing” the concession maps. Adding that Indonesia will only provide the maps on a “case-by-case basis”, Professor Kambuaya said: “Companies will feel compromised in terms of their competitiveness by releasing this data.”

Last Friday, an spokesman for Indonesia’s national police said PT Adei Plantations, a unit of Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd — Malaysia’s third-largest palm oil planter — would be charged for illegal fires. The company has denied the accusations.

Prof Kambuaya declined to reveal if any of the eight errant companies being investigated were linked to Singapore or Malaysia. He said that the outcome of the probe will be announced “as soon as possible”.

He added that Indonesia hopes to ratify the Transboundary Haze Pollution Agreement “by the end of the year or early next year”. Indonesia remains the only ASEAN country that has not ratified the agreement which was inked in 2002.

ASEAN ministers push for joint haze monitoring system
Woo Sian Boon Today Online 17 Jul 13;

KUALA LUMPUR — ASEAN environment ministers today (July 17) agreed to recommend the adoption of the Sub-Regional Haze Monitoring System as a joint monitoring system for approval by ASEAN leaders at October’s Leaders’ Summit.

However, the digitised land-use maps and concession maps of fire-prone areas that cause transboundary haze are to be shared on a Government-to-Government basis, the environment ministers said in a joint statement issued after today’s meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

During a joint press conference, Indonesian Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuya said that "it's a matter of business" why concession maps cannot be published publicly but denied that his government was afraid of legal repercussions from companies.

He also added that Indonesia's concession maps of fire prone peat land will be shared on a "case by case" basis.

The ministers acknowledged the need for better early warning systems and to be better prepared to anticipate any fires in future, so that immediate mitigation actions could be undertaken even before the fires get out of control.

Ministers who are on the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution also affirmed their offer of assistance for emergency response should the situation warrant.

Malaysia and Singapore extended offers to renew existing bilateral collaboration projects and extend these activities to other provinces in Indonesia’s Sumatra island. The offers failed to get a firm commitment, with Indonesia saying it is currently identifying the areas of cooperation which will maximise and bring “mutual benefits” for all the parties concerned, according to the statement.

Singapore's delegation at the meeting is led by Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan. The participating countries are Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand and Singapore. The meeting had originally been scheduled for next month, but was brought forward after air quality in several countries soared to record hazardous levels last month due to plantation fires in Sumatra.

Speaking in Parliament last week, Dr Balakrishnan said Singapore will seek four outcomes at the meeting. Besides the maps, Singapore hopes that Indonesia will agree to renew the collaboration that we have successfully had in Jambi and in other provinces, if possible; and that Indonesia commits to ratify the ASEAN Transboundary Haze Pollution Agreement as soon as possible.

Singapore will also seek a date for the public launch of the ASEAN Sub-Regional Haze Monitoring System platform that will enable the identification of errant companies, he told the House.

When asked how he felt the talks went, Dr Balakrishnan said it is "not an acceptable situation", but acknowledged that compromises, including government to government sharing of fire prone land areas "is one step forward".

Asean finds compromise on tackling haze issue
Ministers agree on joint monitoring system and limited sharing of maps
Teo Cheng Wee Regional Correspondent And Lester Kong Malaysia Correspondent In Kuala Lumpur
Straits Times 18 Jul 13;

ASEAN environment ministers reached a compromise on the contentious haze problem, while holding out hopes that their leaders' summit in October would provide fresh breakthroughs.

Meeting in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, they agreed to recommend the adoption of a joint haze monitoring system (HMS) developed by Singapore, and the limited sharing of official maps to track down culprits who start forest fires.

The compromise came after resistance from Indonesia and Malaysia in making these official maps public, citing legal concerns. The adoption of the HMS awaits approval at the Asean Leaders' Summit, which will be held in Brunei in October.

"We didn't get everything that we wanted, but I think there is some progress. Setting the deadline of October 2013… to launch the HMS is a good starting point," Singapore's Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told a joint press conference after the meeting ended.

"In the meantime, I think all the companies are put on notice that we're watching."

If adopted, the HMS will be used by Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Thailand.

The five countries, which are in the Asean sub-regional ministerial steering committee (MSC) on transboundary haze pollution, had brought forward their scheduled meeting by a month after the region suffered its worst episode of haze since 1997.

During the three-day session - described by some officials as intense - Singapore had pushed for public disclosure of official land- use and concession maps, to allow the public to exert pressure on errant companies or individuals.

Accurate and official maps, when used with satellite images of hot spots, also give the authorities evidence for enforcement action.

But the leaders eventually settled on sharing these concession maps between governments on a "case-by-case basis".

Indonesian Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya told reporters yesterday that his country had regulations on information and transparency, which dictate what officials can make public.

"As a government, we're not allowed to publish concession maps for the public," he said.

He later told The Straits Times that plantation companies would "feel compromised in terms of their competitiveness by releasing these data". He denied speculation that the Indonesian government was worried the companies may sue if the maps were inaccurate.

Malaysia's Natural Resources and Environment Minister G. Palanivel also said his country was "a bit strict" on public disclosure of concession maps, but did not elaborate. He added that the issue was complicated by the fact that land issues come under the jurisdiction of state governments here, not the federal government.

At the meeting, Indonesia said it hopes to ratify the 2002 Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution by early next year. The pact requires parties to prevent burning of forests, and to provide information and mutual help.

The ministers also agreed to renew a collaboration to promote sustainable farming and haze prediction in Jambi that lapsed in 2011.

Tea break - just the time to seal a haze deal
Informality helps ministers break impasse on sharing concession maps
Elgin Toh Straits Times 18 Jul 13;

LOCKED in an impasse over the sharing of concession maps yesterday, Asean environment ministers decided to adjourn for a tea break.

Over snacks, "intense bilateral and multilateral consultations" took place at the Royale Chulan hotel in the city centre, and the ministers hammered out the main points of an acceptable solution.

At issue was a haze monitoring system that Singapore had spent $100,000 developing. It was all systems go for the computer software except for one missing jigsaw puzzle piece: land concession maps from each country, to be matched with hot-spot data and high-resolution satellite images.

These are crucial to pinpointing companies responsible for burning land illegally. Singapore went to the meeting pushing hard on the issue, which it saw as vital for deterrence.

Making the maps public would pressure errant firms, as consumers would be better informed to take action against them, Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said at a post-meeting press conference.

The worst haze crisis last month in the history of the region provided further impetus.

"We were quite determined that it cannot be business as usual - just talk shop and no commitments," he said.

"I told them I cannot go home empty handed... You've got to show that... something additional has been committed, and that the companies know what was coming their way."

But the minister said he also knew pushing too hard might trigger a backlash, and may jeopardise any hopes of Indonesia's future ratification of the Asean Transboundary Haze Agreement.

The signs were not good. In two days of preparatory meetings between civil servants, Indonesia and Malaysia raised for the first time the concern that their domestic laws may not allow the maps to be shared. Indonesia at one point proposed the removal of any mention of maps in the press release, sources said.

Sources added that on Tuesday night, meetings scheduled to end before dinner ended at 11.30pm.

"Usually in an Asean meeting, the senior officials would have had most of the items finalised and agreed upon. This one - several of these (points) were left to the minister to discuss," said Second Foreign Minister Grace Fu, who accompanied Dr Balakrishnan.

In the end, that sharing would be government-to-government, not with the public, and was subject to approval at the Asean Summit in October, appeased all sides.

Malaysia, sources added, asked to include a phrase that required only maps of fire-prone areas "that cause transboundary haze" - effectively excluding itself, since its fires usually only have local effects.

But for some, it was the folksy setting of the break that sealed it.

"In a formal setting, it's very large, a lot of people around, so we couldn't really come face to face and listen to one another. During the break time, it's just (the) ministers... and all of us just gathered around and came to a conclusion," said Ms Fu.

Singapore's High Commissioner to Malaysia Ong Keng Yong, who is also a former Asean secretary-general, added, half in jest: "Asean decisions all (reached) at tea break."

In a word, progress is 'incremental'
Zakir Hussain Indonesia Bureau Chief In Jakarta And Jonathan Kwok
Straits Times 18 Jul 13;

ASKED about Asean's apparent inability to resolve the perennial issue of transboundary haze, the grouping's Secretary-General, Mr Le Luong Minh, told The Straits Times recently that the Asean process is "informal, consensus-driven, incremental".

"Incremental" is not a bad word to describe the progress at yesterday's regional haze meeting in Kuala Lumpur, where the outcome seems as much about saving face as buying more time to fix a contentious issue.

Key decisions, such as whether to adopt a joint monitoring system that involves sharing digitised land-use maps and concession maps of fire-prone areas, have been pushed down the line for Asean leaders to decide at their Brunei summit in October.

It was not the breakthrough many had hoped for. But, hopefully, it is enough to keep prodding all the countries involved to see the need to move together to fix the root causes of the haze. Chief among them is the practice of open burning to clear land in Sumatra, much of it on areas listed as belonging to companies but are not fully within their control.

Asean, after all, can only do what its member states give it the mandate to take on.

Noteworthy, however, is the apparent concession on sharing maps. Granted, there exist large discrepancies between concession maps provided by companies and those housed in official Indonesian government databases, a point groups like the World Resources Institute have noted.

And there is no guarantee that having the maps will result in precise identification of culprits.

As law professor Alan Tan of the National University of Singapore noted, pulp and oil palm concessions and their operating boundaries are often ill-defined and overlap with other community uses, and there is a high level of tolerance for such fluidity.

"The maps are unlikely to be of much help if, on the ground, the boundaries are not respected and there is rampant encroachment. As we have seen, this is precisely what enables the big companies to shift the blame to small-time farmers," he said.

This year's efforts come as Indonesia is trying to integrate its maps onto a single database.

Also to its credit, the severity of this year's haze - and the reaction from neighbouring countries - seems to have sparked official commitment to do more.

The question is whether the efforts will continue over the coming months, or lurch from one severe bout of haze to another.

Jakarta's to-do list includes ratifying the 2002 Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, a pact all the other nine members have since ratified.

Indonesian Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya, who previously said preparations have begun for ratification, yesterday said he hoped Parliament would agree to it by early 2014.

The last time the pact was up for ratification in 2008, MPs rejected it for failing to address the problem of illegal logging.

This time round, some have expressed the view that the more pressure neighbouring countries put on Indonesia to ratify the treaty, the greater the resistance that is likely to come from Parliament.

It does not help that with an election year coming up, issues of sovereignty and access to national resources could easily be whipped up by some quarters.

Still, Mr Minh says countries have made a lot of progress if one looks back 16 years to the severe haze of 1997. But the region should not need to wait another 16 years to stop open burning.

ASEAN lauds Indonesian`s efforts to fight forest fires
Antara 17 Jul 13;

Kuala Lumpur (ANTARA News) - ASEAN environment ministers have praised Indonesia for its quick act to combat land and forest fires that caused air pollution in neighboring countries.

They also lauded Indonesia`s commitment to speeding up the process of ratifying an ASEAN agreement on transboundary haze pollution, according to the result of a haze pollution-related meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

Also attending the "15th Meeting of the Sub-regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution were ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minh, Brunei, Indonesian, Malaysian, and Singapore environment ministers and Thai deputy environment minister.

The ministers said Indonesia`s efforts to fight land and forest fires indicated its capacity to prevent the fires from spreading.

Yet they underscored the need for the country to adopt an early warning system to prevent the land and forest fires from a recurrence in the future.

They also affirmed their offer to help fight forest fires if needed.

Indonesian Environment Minister Balthazar Kambuaya said Indonesia was very serious about handling land and forest fires in Riau province which caused thick haze a few weeks ago in view of their impact on many parties.

"Don`t think that Indonesia was silent. As a matter of fact, we made as maximum efforts as possible to put out the land and forest fires," he said.

The maximum efforts were made because Indonesia wanted to serve the interests of the local people whose health was at greater risk rather than to satisfy the interests of its neighboring countries such as Singapore and Malaysia, he said.

"We paid great attention to the health of the people living near the land and forest fires in Riau province," he said.

Kambuaya said the Indonesian government had proposed to the House of Representatives (DPR) to ratify the ASEAN agreement on transboundary haze pollution.

"We hope the DPR would approve the proposal at the end of this year," he said. ***1***

Reporting by N. Aulia Badar