Channel NewsAsia 2 Apr 14;
SINGAPORE: Environment ministers meeting in Brunei to tackle the haze problem have welcomed Indonesia's commitment to expedite the ratification of the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution.
Writing on his Facebook page, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said the ministers renewed their offers of assistance and "made some progress" in finalising the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on collaboration with Jambi.
But the key sticking point was the unwillingness of some governments to share relevant land use and concession maps.
"This is an obstacle to full operationalisation of the Haze Monitoring System," said Dr Balakrishnan.
He added that he is disappointed with the lack of transparency.
He said: "Nevertheless, we have to find a way forward so that errant companies know that governments will exchange information and collaborate to take enforcement action.
“I shared our draft bill on Transboundary Haze with our Indonesian counterparts. I have also asked for the names of companies, and the evidence to be shared with us so that we can take appropriate action against the culprits. This will be a long journey."
Dr Balakrishnan acknowledged that the meeting was a "difficult" one which took place under the cloud of possibly even worse transboundary haze this year.
He noted that the haze began much earlier due to the unusual dry weather from January to March.
There is a higher probability of this being an El Nino year, with even drier weather in the months ahead.
- CNA/ms
No major progress on system to monitor haze
Woo Sian Boon Today Online 3 Apr 14;
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN — As neighbouring countries continued to rebuff the Republic’s push to kick off the haze monitoring system that it had invested considerable time and money in, Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan yesterday expressed his frustration, following another meeting with his counterparts on the haze problem that failed to yield any significant breakthrough on that front.
The unwillingness of countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia to share the land use and concession maps needed for the monitoring system to work was a key sticking point, he told the Singapore media.
“Quite frankly, I am disappointed with the lack of transparency; I think governments can and should do more. This is an area which precisely calls for more transparency and greater collaboration, so although they have not yet agreed to share the concession maps, nevertheless the issue remains live on the table and we will continue to push for it,” said Dr Balakrishnan, who revealed that negotiations were tough, with “contentious moments”.
While there was unanimous agreement that the transboundary haze problem needs to be solved, steps taken towards a solution were small and incremental, despite a warning that this year’s haze might be more severe, with meteorologists predicting drier weather and a likelihood of the phenomenon known as El Nino developing in the second half of this year.
While he acknowledged that Indonesia has made considerable efforts in the process of ratifying the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreement on transboundary haze pollution, Dr Balakrishnan said he was “frustrated with the very slow pace with which our counterparts are moving”.
Singapore began developing the haze monitoring system in 2012, investing S$100,000 in it.
Said Dr Balakrishnan: “It’s actually all ready, the only missing elements are the land use and concession maps. Unfortunately, some governments are unwilling or they say they are unable, for a variety of reasons, to publish those maps.”
He said Indonesia had explained that it is unable to share its concession maps now, as it has started trying to integrate and consolidate a single map from the many versions that are being used by various ministries.
“They have said that will take another two years or so to be completed ... I think two years is a very long time to wait. I don’t think we can afford to wait,” he said.
Dr Balakrishnan said Malaysian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment G Palanivel had said at a press conference that his country would not share all concession maps, but would share maps of hot spots causing the transboundary haze at a government-to-government level.
Adding that this offer was not made during the meeting among the ministers, Dr Balakrishnan said: “I hope I can hold him to that.”
He added that there was “a lot of to-ing and fro-ing” at the meeting over whether the countries wanted to keep the option of the monitoring system on the table or “whether they wanted to walk away from it”.
“I think the sense was that they don’t want to walk away from it, but nevertheless, there is still a lot of pushing and shoving that will have to go on to make the critical data of land use and concession maps available,” said Dr Balakrishnan.
Noting that Malaysians and Indonesians suffered during the latest bout of haze last month, Dr Balakrishnan reiterated that it is in all the countries’ interest to have greater collaboration and cooperation.
“It’s pointless to just engage in finger-pointing. If we just stopped at that and the meeting broke up at that level, we wouldn’t have achieved anything,” he said.
Dr Balakrishnan said he had asked Malaysia and Indonesia to share evidence and the names of firms that have engaged in illegal burning activities. This will come in useful when Singapore’s proposed law — tabled in Parliament in February — to deal with errant companies is passed, he said.
“I’ve offered to even go (to Indonesia) and have a seminar to explain the details, our principles and thinking behind this Bill ... I’m willing to make this extra effort because we have to demonstrate sincerity (and) collaborative action in practice. It’s no point just going on our own,” he said.
Meanwhile, efforts to renew the Singapore-Indonesia collaboration in Jambi to tackle forest fires are being finalised. Dr Balakrishnan said he is hoping for a conclusion before the end of the year.
Not all haze issues can be solved in one meeting, say ASEAN ministers
Woo Sian Boon Today Online 3 Apr 14;
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN — Association of Southeast Asian Nations environment ministers yesterday stressed that not all issues related to the annual transboundary haze problem could be solved in just one meeting, even as reporters repeatedly quizzed them on whether there was a sense of urgency in tackling it.
The slow process is due to the countries looking not only at “short-term but long-term” solutions, said Brunei’s Minister of Development Suyoi Osman, who chaired a joint press conference after the 16th Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee Meeting on Transboundary Haze Pollution ended before lunch yesterday.
He said: “It may be long haul, but this is our 16th meeting and we want to make sure that each meeting means we are that close to finding a solution ... I hope that in future meetings, we will be able to achieve more.”
When pressed, Mr Suyoi said there is “always” a sense of urgency when the five countries — Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Thailand — meet to discuss the haze, as it is a problem that has been around “for quite some time now”.
While he acknowledged that the main stumbling block — the sharing of concession maps — had not been surmounted, the minister said the countries will be moving ahead to “try to find some other ways where we can actually see the HMS (haze monitoring system) being operationalised”, such as sharing information on fire-prone areas at the government-to-government level.
The S$100,000 haze monitoring system, which Singapore developed, uses hot-spot data and satellite images to pinpoint illegal burning activities. However, it requires accurate concession maps that can specify the companies or entities with rights to carry out logging or plantation activities on a particular piece of land.
Indonesian Deputy Minister of Degradation Control and Climate Change at the Ministry of Environment Arief Yuwono said Jakarta is in the process of consolidating everything into a single map and will not be sharing its concession maps with its neighbours until the process is completed.
Similarly, Malaysian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment G Palanivel said his country will only share maps of hot spots causing the transboundary haze at the government level. “We cannot disclose the entire map of the country — that will cause a lot of other issues. So, we will restrict ourselves to areas where there is open burning, we will share on a government-to-government basis,” he said.
As to whether Indonesia and Malaysia are sufficiently prepared for the dry weather ahead — which may exacerbate the haze — both men noted that their respective countries had shared their contingency plans to tackle fires which had occurred earlier this year with their neighbours.
For example, Indonesia had carried out water bombings to put out the blaze on 20,000ha of land in Riau.
Mr Arief also said 202 individuals and 45 companies had been investigated for conducting illegal burning activities so far this year.
In Malaysia, Mr G Palanivel said, 7,000 firemen were mobilised to put out fires that had erupted in states such as Pahang, Johor and Perak, while court action would be taken against those responsible for causing the fires. He said: “I feel the situation has improved a lot now ... but because of this dry spell, sometimes, (there are things) we cannot control.”
No agreement on concession maps at ASEAN haze meeting
Woo Sian Boon Today Online 2 Apr 14;
SINGAPORE — The 16th sub-regional ministerial steering committee meeting between ASEAN’s environment minsters concluded this afternoon (April 2) in Brunei with the impasse on the sharing of concession maps still not breached.
A joint statement released after the meeting said that countries have been urged to share hotspot areas that cause transboundary haze on a government-to-government basis instead.
Speaking to Singapore media after the meeting, Minister for Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan described the meeting as “tough”, with “many contentious moments” as each of the five countries discussed solutions to tackle the transboundary haze that has plagued the region annually.
While he acknowledged that Indonesia has made considerable efforts in the progress to ratify the ASEAN agreement on transboundary haze, Dr Balakrishan said he was “frustrated by the slow progress and disappointed at the lack of transparency” by governments in their unwillingness to share their countries’ concession maps publicly.
During the meeting, Dr Balakrishnan also shared Singapore’s plans to pass a Bill on transboundary haze pollution, adding that he offered to explain to Indonesia the “details, principles and thinking behind this idea” for a more effective collaboration to solve transboundary haze.
Efforts to renew the Singapore-Indonesia collaboration in Jambi are also being finalised.
Dr Balakrishnan also added that Singapore’s offers of assistance to Malaysia and Indonesia to put out fires on the ground remains on the table.
Meteorologists have predicted that the weather phenomenon known as El Nino is likely to develop in the second half of this year, which may lead to a worst bout of haze returning during periods of dry weather conditions.
Haze: Breakthrough in map sharing efforts with Indonesia unlikely
Woo Sian Boon Today Online 2 Apr 14;
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN — Legal and operational difficulties stand in the way of a breakthrough by Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) environment ministers to get Indonesia to share its concession maps to combat transboundary haze, said Indonesian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity yesterday.
There is currently no reference map to produce or verify the accuracy of existing concession maps, said the officials who attended a technical working group meeting, ahead of today’s 16th Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee meeting on Transboundary Haze Pollution.
The S$100,000-haze monitoring system, which Singapore developed, uses hot-spot data and satellite images to pinpoint illegal burning activities. However, it requires accurate concession maps that can specify the companies or entities with rights to carry out logging or plantation activities on a particular piece of land.
Indonesia is in the midst of developing a larger-scale reference map that can then be used to draw up concession maps, an Indonesian official told reporters yesterday. This reference map is expected to be ready by the end of the year. “Perhaps we can talk about it again next year,” he added.
A delegate from Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said the country is prohibited from sharing its concession maps under the law. He said Indonesia’s Parliament is set to ratify the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution by October.
The Steering Committee, comprising Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, is meeting today in Brunei’s capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, to discuss the implementation of the haze monitoring system, among other haze-prevention measures.
Singapore’s delegation is led by Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.
A joint statement is expected after the meeting, which comes as concerns that the prolonged dry weather the region has been experiencing may lead to an earlier and more severe bout of transboundary haze this year.
The possibility of El Nino, a weather phenomenon characterised by dry weather, kicking in this year was also raised by the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre during yesterday’s meeting.
It put the likelihood of El Nino occurring at 60 per cent.
Singapore frustrated at slow pace in tackling haze
Feng Zengkun The Straits Times AsiaOne 5 Apr 14;
SINGAPORE - A ministerial meeting of five ASEAN nations to tackle the regional haze problem ended with little progress yesterday, prompting Singapore to express frustration.
After the one-day session with Thailand, Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia held in Brunei, Singapore's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan told reporters he was "frustrated at the very slow pace of progress" and "disappointed at the lack of transparency".
A key sticking point was the reluctance of some governments to share relevant land use and concession maps, he said without naming any country.
As a result, the haze monitoring computer system developed by Singapore cannot be put to full use to pinpoint haze-causing fires and identify culprits, he added.
When asked whether Indonesia would share the maps Singapore seeks, the country's deputy minister of degradation control and climate change Arief Yuwono told reporters his government is consolidating various maps to produce a standardised "One Map".
"As long as this process is not finished yet, we cannot give the information," he said.
Dr Balakrishnan said he was told the "One Map" would not be completed for about another two years.
Much of the haze in Singapore is caused by farmers starting fires to clear land in Indonesia.
This year, Singapore faces the threat of even worse haze than last year because of two potential weather forces, according to the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre. These are: lower than usual rainfall expected from now to October in parts of the region, and the El Nino weather phenomenon, which is linked to drought.
Last year, the record-breaking haze caused an islandwide scramble for masks, with the three-hour Pollutant Standards Index, which measures air quality, peaking at a hazardous 401 on June 21.
Said Dr Balakrishnan: "We have to find a way forward so that errant companies know that governments will exchange information and collaborate to take enforcement action."
For instance, he has asked Indonesia and Malaysia to share the names of suspected culprits they are investigating for the fires.
Mr Arief said 202 individuals and 45 companies are being investigated so far this year.
Dr Balakrishnan pointed out some optimistic moves, including the progress Indonesia has made towards ratifying the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution.
It would, among others, let firefighters from ASEAN countries put out fires in Indonesia.
Singapore and Indonesia also plan to sign a memorandum of understanding to resume collaboration on anti-fire efforts in Indonesia.
The five ASEAN countries yesterday issued a statement pledging to "continue to be vigilant and take additional preventive measures and immediate fire suppression in the event of any... transboundary haze in the coming months".
They, however, did not specify the measures.
Indonesia unlikely to share maps for haze monitoring soon
Feng Zengkun The Straits Times AsiaOne 4 Apr 14;
Indonesia is unlikely to share in the near future maps which are necessary for a regional haze monitoring system.
The computer system developed by Singapore uses satellite images and hot-spot data to pinpoint fires that lead to haze. But it needs the concession maps to identify which firms are responsible for the land plots where the fires occur.
The Straits Times understands that Indonesia is not able to provide these maps as it is still putting together a larger-scale reference map which can be used to produce accurate concession maps or to verify existing ones.
The reference map is expected to be completed by the end of the year, an Indonesian official told reporters yesterday in Brunei, where delegates from five ASEAN countries have been meeting to discuss the haze issue.
Another Indonesian official said that the country is prohibited by law from sharing such concession maps in the first place.
Singapore's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan is expected to discuss the concession maps with fellow ASEAN ministers today.
That is when he and ministers from Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand and Malaysia will attend the 16th Meeting of the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution. The committee oversees moves to prevent haze from forest and other land fires in the five countries.
Yesterday's meeting, also in Brunei, was the 16th Meeting of the Technical Working Group, which National Environment Agency chief executive Ronnie Tay attended.
Last month, the Singapore Government said this year's haze could be worse than last year's record pollution, which saw the three-hour PSI in Singapore hit a hazardous 401 on June 21.
This is partly due to a weather phenomenon known as El Nino - linked to droughts in South-east Asia - that is expected to develop in the second half of the year.
