Alan Ting Bernama 11 Jul 13;
KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 (Bernama) -- The respective ministers in-charge of environment from Asean countries will convene here next Wednesday, for the transboundry haze pollution meeting which has been brought forward from the original schedule next month.
Malaysia, supported by Singapore, has asked for the meeting to be held earlier after the haze from forest fires in Sumatera and Riau engulfed parts of Indonesia and the two countries.
In the latest occurrence, Malaysia had to declare a state of emergency for Muar and Ledang, with many schools forced to close due to the thick smog and the Air Pollution Index reaching hazardous level.
The meeting, officially known as the Meeting of the Sub-regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution has met 14 times in the past to discuss action plans and strategies to tackle forest fires and the haze.
However, the haze continues to mar our beautiful skyline annually, without fail. Why? Is there no solution in sight?
Malaysia's Centre for Environment Technology and Development executive director Dr Gurmit Singh has lamented it was due to a lack of political will, on the part of the Indonesian authorities.
"For 14 years, they didn't make any decision. Common sense will tell you that they are not interested. Why don't they prevent the fires? Same old problems," he told Bernama when contacted.
He said Indonesia was the only Asean country which had yet to ratify the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which came into force in 2003 -- despite most of the forest and peat soil fires originating from Indonesia.
The Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution was established in 2002 involving Asean nations to reduce haze pollution whereby, it recognises that transboundary haze pollution resulting from land or forest fires should be mitigated through concerted national efforts and international cooperation.
It was established due to haze that hit Southeast Asia in the late 1990s, following land clearing via open burning in the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
"By not ratifying it, they are not obliged to take any action. Even if Indonesia ratified it, what do you do, supposedly if there are forest fires? There is no provision in the treaty for them to take any action," noted Gurmit.
All Asean conventions and treaties rely on compliances by the governments of the countries which are a party to it.
Gurmit said this meant that the agreement did not empower Asean members or Asean institutions with authority to take action on the ground in Indonesia and elsewhere to deal with the haze.
Therefore, he said, the main issue was how to stop forest fires in Indonesia as peat soil there was thicker than in Malaysia, and once it caught fire, it would become extremely difficult to put out.
"I was at a hotel where the agreement was signed in 2002. At that time, I had already told some journalists that I don't see much coming out of it. The basic message is, let's put an end to this. Can you or can you not resolve this problem?," he asked.
So, what can we expect from the coming meeting attended by five environment ministers from Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand?
Malaysia's Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri G. Palanivel said the meeting should take stock of what had been achieved and what the immediate needs were.
Malaysia will also urge Indonesia to urgently ratify the agreement.
Singapore has been reported to be pushing for Indonesia to provide official and accurate land concession maps and with the satellite technology to help identify companies or individuals who cleared land illegally.
Not only that, Singapore has also urged other participating countries to agree on a date for launching a sub-regional haze monitoring system to help identify errant companies whose activities contributed to the air quality hitting hazardous levels.
On the Indonesian part, latest reports indicate that the Indonesian Government has begun preparations to ratify the regional agreement on combating the haze.
Indonesian Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya was reported as saying that the documents necessary for the ratification were now at ministerial level review and would be sent to the Indonesian Parliament.
-- BERNAMA
