Progress on haze monitoring system slow: Balakrishnan

NEO CHAI CHIN Today Online 29 Jul 15;

SINGAPORE — Progress on the regional haze monitoring system has been very slow, but concrete steps can be taken through information sharing between governments, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan said today (July 28).

Given that Malaysian and Indonesian authorities have raised legal difficulties in making land concession maps public, Dr Balakrishnan said he has “counter-proposed” an exchange of information on a government-to-government basis. Concession maps show the tracts of land companies have been allowed to develop.

The haze monitoring system was adopted by five Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) members — Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Thailand — nearly two years ago in October 2013, but is lacking the concession maps that, together with satellite images of hot spots, would help track down parties responsible for transboundary haze.

Dr Balakrishnan, who was in Jakarta for a meeting of the ASEAN Sub Regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution, said the risk of haze remains if the El Nino weather phenomenon brings about prolonged drier and warmer weather in the second half of this year.

“If we can establish this system in which we can directly exchange this information, facilitate investigations, adduce evidence that can be offered in the court of law, I think we’ll increase considerably the accountability for companies that start such fires,” he said.

Errant companies could be in breach of both Indonesian laws and Singapore’s Transboundary Haze Pollution Act. “So even while we try to overcome the hurdles with the publication of concession maps, I’m hoping we can still move and take concrete steps on a bilateral government-to-government basis,” he added. Yesterday’s meeting was constructive “but there’s still a lot more that we need to do”.

The Indonesian authorities have stepped up efforts on the ground and there have been fewer hot spots in the first six months of this year, he noted.

Separately, Singapore-headquartered pulp and paper giant Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited launched an initiative today to prevent fires in nine villages in Riau province in Sumatra. The programme, led by its operations arm and done with partners such as non-governmental groups, includes community incentives to not burn, air quality monitoring and sustainable agricultural alternatives. APRIL’s manufacturing operations are in Pangkalan Kerinci in Riau.

Singapore proposes information sharing with ASEAN to tackle haze
Environment Minister Vivian Balakrishnan says he hopes that through the process of "ground truthing", the Indonesian government will share the identity of the company responsible for a hotspot.
Saifulbahri Ismail Channel NewsAsia 28 Jul 15;

JAKARTA: The Republic has proposed to ASEAN member states that information be shared on a government-to-government basis as part of efforts to tackle transboundary haze in the region.

Speaking at the end of a one-day ASEAN meeting on transboundary haze in Jakarta on Tuesday (Jul 28), Environment Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishan said this information can help confirm the presence and severity of a fire after satellite pictures indicate a hotspot.

Dr Balakrishnan said he hopes that through this process of "ground truthing", the Indonesian government will then share the identity of the company responsible for that hotspot. “So if we can establish this system in which we can directly exchange information, facilitate investigation, produce evidence which can be offered in the court of law, we will increase considerably the accountability for the companies that started the fires,” he said.

Dr Balakrishnan made this proposal to Indonesia at the meeting after seeing "very slow progress" on the ASEAN Haze Monitoring System (AHMS).

ASEAN member states - namely Indonesia and Malaysia - have been reluctant to share land concession maps citing security concerns. The concession maps are a key component required by the system.

Indonesia has said it will study the proposal and Dr Balakrishnan said he is convinced that the current Indonesian government is serious on overcoming transboundary haze in the region.

During the meeting, Thailand offered to host a workshop to draft a roadmap on ASEAN cooperation towards haze pollution control next year. The Thai government has said it hopes to promote the sharing of experiences and lessons learned to achieve the goal of haze-free ASEAN by 2020.

- CNA/dl/al

South-east Asia sees little progress on haze as fires rage
Straits Times 28 Jul 15;

JAKARTA (AFP) - South-east Asian nations meeting on Tuesday to discuss the problem of haze that shrouds the region's skies every year made little progress, as the number of smog-belching forest fires was on the rise in Indonesia.

Environment ministers from Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei and Singapore met in Jakarta to discuss the issue.

The haze mostly comes from forest fires on Indonesia's western island of Sumatra, many of which are deliberately lit to clear land for plantations.

Pressure to resolve the problem has increased since 2013 when South-east Asia suffered its worst smog crisis for more than a decade, with haze levels hitting a record high in Singapore.

Nevertheless, collaborative efforts by the 10-member Asean to resolve the problem have been slow, with Singapore's calls for the adoption of a regional haze monitoring system making little headway.

The proposed system would use satellite data and maps of forest concessions to identify firms responsible for fires, and use this evidence to prosecute them.

But Indonesia and Malaysia, which is also home to palm oil plantations, have been reluctant to provide such maps.

There were no concrete developments at the two-day Jakarta meeting, prompting Singaporean Environment Minister Vivian Balakrishnan to lament "very slow" progress despite many meetings.

"The human, social and economic cost of haze in our part of the world has been too high, and been going on far too long," he told reporters.

Singapore has passed legislation allowing authorities to fine companies that cause or contribute to haze, regardless of whether they have an office in the city-state. But officials say they still need evidence from the ground.

The number of fires on Sumatra rose steeply in recent days, with state-run Antara news agency reporting over 300 "hotspots" - either forest fires or areas likely soon to go up in flames - detected on the island at the weekend.

Ministers agree to share hot spot info
But Jakarta again fails to agree to map-sharing request from S'pore
Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja Straits Times 29 Jul 15;

Environment ministers from five Asean nations agreed yesterday to sharing information on a government-to-government basis that would help identify plantation companies on whose land fires start and cause haze.

The agreement, however, fell far short of the longstanding request by Singapore that Indonesia publicly share maps on agricultural concessions owned by oil palm, timber and other commodity companies, which are often blamed for starting the fires, particularly in neighbouring Sumatra.

"We decided to share hot spot information first - to make such data reach all parties as quickly as possible," said Indonesian Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar at a joint press conference after the meeting in Jakarta.

Representatives from Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Thailand attended the meeting.

Asean previously agreed to create a regional haze-monitoring system, with a computer system developed by Singapore that uses satellite images and hot-spot data to pinpoint fires that lead to haze.

Development of the system has progressed slowly as it awaits the concession maps from Indonesia and Malaysia to identify which companies are responsible for the land plots where fires occur.

Plantation companies have often been blamed for some of the fires that burn on their concessions although, in some cases, the fires are started outside their lands or by farmers who are encroaching or living on their concessions. Many large plantation companies also have fire crews to protect their oil palm trees, timber or other assets.

One problem is that these companies generally do not share concession boundary data and the Indonesian government has struggled to create accurate concession maps.

Another issue is that Indonesian laws ban the government from sharing concession maps, Ms Siti said.

The information on hot-spot locations, though, would reveal the truth and help with the investigation and prosecution of errant companies, said Singapore's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.

"It would allow us to do 'ground truthing', meaning, if we see a hot spot on a satellite that is verified on the ground, we could, hopefully, exchange information on which companies are responsible for that piece of ground on which the fire has started," Dr Balakrishnan said at the joint press conference.

Singapore passed legislation in August last year that would allow criminal and civil prosecution against Singaporean as well as foreign companies involved in illegal burning outside Singapore. But regulators would still need evidence and cooperation from the authorities on the ground.

Dr Balakrishnan also said he was convinced Indonesian President Joko Widodo was serious about overcoming the haze problem. He noted that the number of hot spots this year has been much lower. But he lamented the slow progress of the Asean haze talks.

"Despite multiple meetings... the progress has been very slow," he told reporters in Jakarta.

"I would say this is a problem that has gone on for too long. We need to solve it now. We are not moving as quickly as I would have hoped but nevertheless, there is some progress and, more importantly, there are signs of progress on the ground, certainly in Sumatra, and particularly in Riau."

Singapore upset by RI’s haze
Hans Nicholas Jong, The Jakarta Post 29 Jul 15;

While President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was on a state visit to Singapore on Tuesday, on the same day in Jakarta a Singaporean minister expressed his country’s growing impatience with Indonesia’s slow progress in controlling the annual forest fires.

Speaking during a meeting in Jakarta with five ASEAN country members about the haze issue, Singapore Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said that the goal of a haze-free ASEAN by 2020 was not good enough for Singaporeans as the country had suffered too long from the air pollution.

“As far as Singaporeans are concerned, we want a haze-free ASEAN now, not in 2020. We want it now. The human, social and economic cost of haze in our part of the world has been too high and been going on for far too long,” he said in front of his counterparts, including Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar.

The meeting was the 17th of its kind held by the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee (MSC) on transboundary haze pollution, attended by senior officials from five Southeast Asian countries: Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Thailand.

Annual cross-border air pollution caused by uncontrolled land clearing on Indonesian plantations has been a source of discontent among Indonesia’s neighbours since the 1990s.

In 2013, smoky haze wrought by forest fires in Indonesia spread to Singapore and Malaysia, causing Singapore’s worst air pollution in 16 years.

This year, the Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has warned that the dry season could last longer than in previous years because of a weather phenomenon known as El Niño, which affects temperatures and rainfall.

A total of 4,763 hotspots, indicating wildfires, were detected across Indonesia during the period between Jan. 1 and July 23 this year.

Singapore has repeatedly urged Indonesia to provide data on companies and concession maps to enable it to act against plantation firms that allow slash-and-burn farming, saying that it will send an unequivocal signal that ASEAN countries are prepared to be transparent and hold individual companies accountable for their actions.

“Despite multiple meetings, to be honest with you the progress is very slow. The key hurdle is due to the separate regulatory and legislative systems in Malaysia and Indonesia, which until today have prevented them from openly publishing the concession maps for the ASEAN Haze Monitoring System [AHMS],” Vivian said.

The AHMS is a computerised system developed by Singapore in 2012 to enhance hotspot monitoring by combining hotspot data, high-resolution satellite pictures and land concession maps.

Minister Siti, however, countered Vivian’s statement by saying Indonesia would fulfill Singapore’s demand for the list of companies.

“In Indonesia, we have a law on public information access. In that law, there are some documents [that could be published], except for those that have to be kept secret. So we haven’t been able to say that all data is legitimate. We have to verify it first. We still have to [share it] through the G2G. We’re not using a multilateral approach in this case,” Siti said.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Siti said she could not understand what the Singaporean minister meant by saying that Indonesia was too slow in making progress.

“I don’t know what he’s saying, in which time frame, because as you’ve mentioned, this is already the 17th agenda,” the minister responded.

Siti emphasized that the government was obliged to protect the environment not for other countries, but for its own people. “You know what we are doing is not only for other people, but it is in our Constitution that we have to provide a good environment for our people. So in anycase we have to do [it].”

Faizal Parish, senior technical advisor for the ASEAN Peatland Forests Project (APFP) and director of the Malaysia-based Global Environment Centre, said Singapore should be more sensitive to other countries’ problems.

“It’s a sensitive issue because people think Singapore will be [the environmental] police for Asia who will prosecute all companies [regardless of their nationalities],” he said on Tuesday. “But it will be unwise for Singapore to prosecute
Indonesians.”