River turns into classroom for lessons on waterways

Rachel Tan Straits Times 19 Jul 13;

A NEW initiative from the PUB will help kids learn about waterways at Singapore's first "River Classroom".

At Sungei Ulu Pandan in Clementi, students can discover how the river is filtered by plants that get rid of pollutants while absorbing nutrients in the water.

It boasts a community deck that gets youngsters closer to the water safely, and a 600m path where they can observe a new sedimentation basin, floating wetland, and a channel planted with vegetation that removes large pieces of sediment.

The project will be opened officially this Sunday.

It is part of the PUB's ABC Waters programme, started in 2006, which aims to provide "active, beautiful and clean" waterways.

PUB engineer Mak Ming Foong said it will "allow people to get closer to the water".

She added: "Before we decided on the location, we studied the entire waterway together with the surroundings to understand the site characteristics, the user's pattern and if there is potential for educational value."

Students from Queensway Secondary will perform weekly patrols in the area and conduct biodiversity audit checks.

The School of Science and Technology (SST) has been holding its own lessons in the area since January."This programme forces everyone to get out and do a project," said SST science research teacher Tan Hoe Teck.

The nearby Van Kleef Centre, which carries out research into freshwater management, also plans to arrange public walkabouts to highlight the unique features of the ABC learning trail.

Mr Jun-ichi Inada, managing director of landscape consultants Win International, helped design the area. He said: "Teachers use outdoor classrooms as part of the educational programme to make children understand."

First ‘river classroom’ at Sungei Ulul Pandan
Amanda Lee Today Online 19 Jul 13;

SINGAPORE — Residents and students visiting Sungei Ulu Pandan can now learn more about water and the environment thanks to a new project that seeks to create the “river classroom experience”.

Stretching along Sungei Ulu Pandan, between Clementi Avenue 4 and Clementi Road, the project wants to showcase the importance of treating the rainwater run-off from the surrounding catchment before entering the waterway.

The river classroom features four types of ABC Water design elements, one of which is a sedimentation basin. It temporarily collects water from the drains and allow larger sediments to settle before cleaner water flows into the river.

Aquatic plants are planted along the edge to help absorb nutrients in the rainwater run-off while enhancing biodiversity of the area.

Outdoor learning experience for residents, students at Sungei Ulu Pandan
Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid Channel NewsAsia 21 Jul 13;

SINGAPORE: Residents living in the west can now enjoy new community spaces along a waterway, while learning about the environment.

The Sungei Ulu Pandan has been spruced up under the Active, Beautiful and Clean or ABC waters programme.

The aim is to create a river classroom experience where residents and students can learn more about water and the environment to the waterway

Green features like floating wetlands were added to enhance the biodiversity of the area.

The National Water Agency PUB said schools like Nan Hua High School and Queensway Secondary School have already expressed their interest to further their outdoor learning at the waterway.

Residents can also make use of new gathering and viewing decks for recreational activities.

Over a three-year period, APB Singapore is also pledging $300,000 towards an APB Singapore Water Education Fund.

The money will support initiatives like an internship programme for tertiary students at ABC waters at Sungei Ulu Pandan.

- CNA/de

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Jakarta's info law forbids sharing of maps

But exemptions are possible, says official
Zakir Hussain Indonesia Bureau Chief In Jakarta Straits Times 19 Jul 13;

INDONESIA'S reluctance to publicly share maps that could help pinpoint the culprits behind haze-causing forest fires can be partially traced to its Freedom of Information Law.

Clauses in the law specify that data which could reveal the country's wealth of natural resources, such as forests, cannot be made public.

Exemptions can be made, but there is a process that needs to be followed, the Communication and Information Ministry's chief spokesman, Mr Gatot Dewa Broto, told The Straits Times.

The issue of whether concession maps can be made public surfaced when environment ministers from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand met in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday to discuss tackling cross-border haze. They agreed that these maps would be shared between governments on a "case-by-case basis", subject to Asean leaders' approval at a summit meeting in October.

"Our regulations regarding transparency and publicly available information bar us from releasing such information," Indonesian Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya said.

The 2008 law actually mandates that agencies make a range of official data publicly available, with several exceptions, including where national security and diplomatic ties need to be protected. But it also says that these are not permanent, and the government can issue a regulation for an exemption. It does not say how wide the exemption can be.

Several observers and NGOs have criticised the limited plan to share maps, saying continued secrecy will impede efforts to prevent illegal fires.

Singapore had earlier pressed for these maps to be made public, so they could be used with satellite data on hot spots to identify and take action against Singapore-linked firms with fires on their lands.

Mr Samadhi Nirarta of Indonesia's presidential work unit on monitoring development (UKP4) said that while information on natural deposits is classified, information on concession ownership and areas of concession, among others, should be public.

Like Indonesia, Malaysia was "strict" about sharing its maps, Natural Resources and Environment Minister G. Palanivel said on Wednesday. He also said that land matters came under the jurisdiction of state governments, not the federal government.

"But a state government cannot reasonably refuse federal government access (to land information)," said Universiti Malaya law lecturer Azmi Shahrom. "Malaysia has ratified the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, which requires that countries share information."

A more sensitive point, he noted, was the scrutiny that access to concession maps would bring.

"Who owns this land, who this person is related to, how big his area is - once everything is transparent, then any transaction or ownership which is dubious will be open to public scrutiny," he said.

Dr Nigel Sizer, director of the World Resources Institute's Global Forests Initiative, described the lack of commitment to public disclosure as "a serious obstacle to progress".

"Continued secrecy by South-east Asian governments about the location of land holdings by oil palm, pulp wood and other companies will seriously impede efforts to prevent illegal fires and the associated suffocating smog in the future."

Additional reporting by Teo Cheng Wee in Kuala Lumpur
Indonesia's House supports government’s move to ratify haze pact
Margareth Aritonang, The Jakarta Post 19 Jul 13;

The House of Representatives said on Thursday it welcomed the government’s second attempt to ratify the 2002 regional haze treaty in the wake of the massive forest fires in Sumatra, the smog from which choked local residents and people living in neighboring states.

Nur Yasin, a National Awakening Party (PKB) lawmaker at the House’s Commission VII on the environment, said the lawmakers were ready to discuss the planned ratification. “We have not yet discussed the treaty in Commission VII, but we are ready to deliberate the government’s proposal because I think the purpose is good,” he said.

The government has said that it will bring the treaty back for discussion at the House. On the sidelines of an ASEAN ministerial meeting to discuss ways to prevent forest fires in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya told reporters that Jakarta hoped to be able to ratify the treaty early next year.

Indonesia, the largest country in the regional grouping, is the only ASEAN nation that has yet to ratify the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution that was brokered in 2002.

It has now come under pressure from its neighbors to immediately ratify the treaty following June’s forest fires that created severe haze that blanketed Singapore and Malaysia.

The incident forced President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to issue a formal apology to the two neighboring countries, which severely criticized Indonesia for its sluggish response to the haze problem.

The government first submitted a bill to ratify the pact in 2008. Lawmakers at that time refused to endorse the bill, saying it only benefited neighboring countries and undermined Indonesia’s interests.

At the time, the House argued that Indonesia should not ratify the treaty as ASEAN members did not take into consideration Indonesia’s demands to forge regional cooperation to combat transboundary illegal logging and illegal fishing. The House also expressed its objections to the fact that most clauses within the bill were obligatory.

It is unclear if the government has submitted a new bill. “I haven’t heard anything so far. This is why we haven’t started any discussions on the matter,” Firman Subagyo, a lawmaker from the House’s commission VII on forestry, said.

The Golkar politician added that his commission would strongly support the plan to ratify the treaty, especially if it could enable Indonesia to impose harsh sanctions on any foreign companies found to be responsible for the forest fires.

“The recent case in Riau is an incentive for us to review our policies regarding the environment and forestry,” he said.

ASEAN has also welcomed Indonesia’s commitment to address the haze problem.

The grouping’s secretary general, Le Luong Minh, said the move showed Indonesia was ready to mobilise available resources to put out fires and eradicate the haze problem. “This is a spirit of cooperation to be commended, and with such successes, we will be able to achieve our agreements,” he said as quoted by Bernama on Wednesday.

Critics have said that the main problem is the fact that the Indonesian government is failing to enforce the law to prevent illegal practices that cause forest fires.

Singapore’s Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, for instance, called on Indonesia to enforce its own laws to make a big difference.

In a first, the National Police said it was ready to press charges against a Malaysian firm that was alleged to be responsible for the forest fires in Riau. The police accused PT ADEI Plantation and Industry, a subsidiary of Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK) of conducting irresponsible burning practices in its concession area in Riau.

Previously, the environment minister had suggested 14 companies were the source of the fires in Riau.

Eight of the companies are Malaysian-owned, namely PT Langgam Inti Hiberida, PT Bumi Rakksa Sejati, PT Tunggal Mitra Plantation (PTTMP), PT Udaya Loh Dinawi as well as PT Jatim Jaya Perkasa, PT Multi Gambut Industri, PT Mustika Agro Lestari and PT ADEI.

The police then narrowed down their investigation to five companies, including PT ADEI.

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Stumbling to map a path through the haze

Chua Chin Wei and Henrick Tseng Today Online 19 Jul 13;

It was probably wrong to expect too much too fast when Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) environment ministers met to discuss the haze, caused by fires in Indonesia.

Never mind that Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, which hosted the meeting, have suffered record-high and hazardous levels of the pollution. The Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee (MSC) — which brings together ministers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Thailand — seems to face real limits on what it is capable and willing to do.

Some compromise was reached to share land concession maps at the government-to-government level. But this will only be done provided that leaders agree. The promise also falls short of making them publicly available, an idea suggested by Singapore’s Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.

Similarly, the meeting voiced some optimism that Indonesia would, at last, ratify the ASEAN haze treaty, more than a decade after other governments. Yet, nothing concrete was decided.

In the past, the MSC was used to kick-start and review on-the-ground cooperation, with Singapore working with Indonesian officials in Jambi while Malaysian efforts were undertaken in Riau. But since these projects, the MSC has failed to restart them, let alone sought to replicate and scale up such cooperation. Even at this week’s meeting, Indonesia was non-committal.

The Singapore minister judged that only “slow progress” was made.

This may be too diplomatic. The MSC has now met 15 times over a decade, and others will be scathing about a lack of substance and political commitment.

NEED TO MAKE MAPS PUBLIC

Take the problem of the maps. The Indonesian Environment Minister, Dr Balthasar Kambuaya, said that publishing concession maps contravenes Indonesian laws. Neither did Malaysia support disclosure. While the country is a victim of the haze, Malaysian companies have been implicated in the fires on Indonesian soil.

It is important that governments consider the benefit of public disclosure. Public data is critical for coordination between governments and local agencies, and for monitoring by non-government organisations (NGOs). Without accurate and official data, it would be difficult for countries to enforce fire prevention laws and respond to future incidences of severe haze.

Companies can benefit if concession maps are made public. Their reputational and operational risks rise when information remains undisclosed, as the media and governments increasingly seek accountability for fires. Governments must seek ways to exert greater leverage over the industry.

Reports are that Indonesia lacks definitive and accurate information and maps. New systems and coordination frameworks can and must then be set up. One initiative by Indonesia is the integrated map system or One Map. This is led by the REDD+ Task Force that reports to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Yet, even this effort faces obstacles in cutting through red tape and laws that prevent map-sharing across different agencies and between the central and local authorities.

LACK OF AGENCY COORDINATION

This reveals a second and quite fundamental problem facing the environment ministers.

Within each country, there are different agencies of government that must be coordinated. This applies to the question of providing maps when concession grants are made by other ministries — Agriculture and Forestry. Actions taken by local communities and decisions by provincial officials can also create differences between the maps and the realities on site.

The question is whether the environment ministers are able and allowed to coordinate and foster cooperation across these different agencies. Based on their meeting, the answer seems to be “no”.

In the weeks following the worst incidents of haze, the ASEAN foreign ministers first met, and now the environment ministers have followed up. Yet, little has been agreed upon and even less have been effective.

The reasons that there is a respite from the haze are that the region is experiencing some wet weather dampening the fires, and that Mr Yudhoyono made a stateman’s decision to apologise and send across thousands to quash the fire swiftly.

The MSC is a necessary but insufficient way forward. It has seeded political will to eradicate haze and punish those responsible — but more needs to be done. Industry and consumers must now take up the hard work from here.

As a follow up to the MSC, the environment ministers must work together to provide authoritative maps to clear up the question of responsibility. Otherwise, when the ASEAN leaders next meet in October, the haze will be lingering on the agenda.

Concerted efforts must be made by each government to publicise authoritative maps which would require extensive coordination across different departments. Only with consistent attention, persistent action and resources can a repeat of the worst haze in history then be avoided.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Chua Chin Wei is a Deputy Director and Henrick Tsjeng a Researcher at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.

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Sea turtle conference addresses Great Barrier Reef sickness spike

Rangers and scientists gather to explore ways of curbing threats that led to soaring number of strandings in recent years
Oliver Milman guardian.co.uk 18 Jul 13;

Pesticides, cyclones and boat strikes have been blamed as causes of a worrying spike in the number of sick and dying sea turtles on the Great Barrier Reef.

A three-day conference being held in Townsville has gathered wildlife rangers, scientists, vets, volunteers and government agencies from across Australia to work out a way to curb threats to sea turtles.

According to Queensland government data, there has been a sharp increase in the number of sea turtles found stranded on the state’s coastline.

In 2010, 808 turtles were found stranded, but the tally soared to 1,781 in 2011 and 1,510 last year. This year has so far seen a slight decrease in the rate of strandings, totalling 342 up until 30 June.

Cyclone Yasi, which destroyed vast tracts of seagrass – sea turtles’ preferred delicacy – in 2011, caused many animals to starve to death. But the conference has heard that human factors have also adversely harmed the creatures.

Julie Traweek of the Sea Turtle Foundation, which rescues stranded turtles, said the animals faced multiple threats.

“We get a lot of sea turtles in with floating syndrome, where they can’t dive, as well as lesions on their organs and brains caused by blood flukes,” she said. “This is becoming more common. They can also suffer from tumours, which we know is from a strain of herpes but we’re not sure what triggers it.

“We see tumour hotspots in Bowen, whereas they don’t see it up on Cape York. They get a lot of turtles that ingest plastic in Benalla in NSW, but less so here.

“Chemical run-off is a problem, but we can’t say that for definite. But we do see more problems in areas with lots of coastal development.”

Traweek said green turtle numbers appeared to be stable, while loggerhead and hawksbill turtles numbers were “crashing.” Although protected in Australia, hawksbill turtles are prized by hunters for their attractive shells when they migrate to Asian waters.

Ellen Ariel of James Cook University’s school of veterinary and biomedical sciences said more research needed to be done to understand sea turtles and the threats they face.

“We see some populations do well on some parts of the coast and others not so well,” she said. “We need to learn more as sea turtles are a good barometer of the health of the water.

“Overall, it would be a good idea for people to slow down in boats in shallow waters to avoid hitting them. We can all be sensible about the things we flush down drains and the plastic we throw away, too.”

On Wednesday Mark Butler, the federal environment minister, pledged $930,000 to Indigenous organisations and traditional owners across Queensland to manage sea turtles, dugongs and the marine environment.

Butler followed that up by unveiling a further $5m in Reef Rescue funding on Thursday to help protect the Great Barrier Reef from crown-of-thorns starfish.

The starfish, which eat coral and have spiralled in number in recent years, are viewed as a key threat to the health of the reef.

“Long term, the work of Reef Rescue is ensuring that runoff to the reef is reduced each year through supporting farmers to improve their practices. But, short term, we need to have divers injecting the starfish and eradicating them,” Butler said.

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South Asia disunity 'hampers flood warnings'

Navin Singh Khadka Environment reporter, BBC World Service 19 Jul 13;

A lack of co-operation between South Asian countries is preventing timely flood warnings that could save lives and property during the monsoon season.

Erratic and extreme rainfall is causing catastrophic flooding, most recently in northwest India and Nepal following heavy rainfall in June.

But the sharing of hydrological data can be a sensitive issue because of disputes over water use.

Officials say a network is required to share data across borders.

Experts and officials told the BBC that countries in the region are doing very little to help each other forecast floods.

Referring to the event last month, Chiranjibi Adhikary, chief district officer of Darchula district in western Nepal, which shares a border with India's flood-hit Uttarakhand state, said: "We received no warning from the Indian side about that devastating flood."

The flooding in the Mahakali river that criss-crosses India and Nepal claimed more than 30 lives on the Nepalese side and swept away many buildings at the district headquarters Khalanga.

Nearly 1,000 people have been confirmed dead because of the floods in the Indian side while thousands are still missing.

"We are still trying to contact them [the Indian authorities] to know what was the reason behind the floods, but there has been no telephone contact yet," Mr Adhikary told the BBC.

In western South Asia, the Kabul river that straddles Afghanistan and Pakistan was a major contributor to the massive floods in the Pakistani territory in 2010.

But, officials say, there was no communication on flood-forecasting between the two countries then, nor is there any now.

"The Kabul river is of course a flood threat to us even today but still we have no hydrological and rainfall data exchange with Afghanistan," said Mohammad Riyaj, Pakistan's chief meteorologist.

"It is something we need to do with urgency but this can be done only at the policy-making level."

One of the worst flood-hit countries in the region, Bangladesh, receives relatively little hydrological data from upstream Nepal.

Officials at Nepal's Department of Hydrology and Meteorology said they used to send the information to Dhaka by fax before but now staffing constraints have become a problem.

Pakistan does have a mechanism to receive limited hydrological data from India but officials say it is quite inadequate for meaningful flood forecasting.

"For instance, the Indian side informs the Indus Water Commission (a body under an agreement between New Delhi and Islamabad on the sharing of Indus river water) only when the water level in the Chenab river crosses 75,000 cusecs," says Mr Riyaj.

"That gives us much less time for evacuation and preparation for floods."

The Chenab is a major tributary of the Indus river that originates in Tibet and flows through India into Pakistan.

India and Pakistan have deep running disagreements on the sharing of Indus waters and have been involved in litigation.

Mr Riyaj said hydrological information on tributaries of the Chenab, including the Jhelum, Ravi and Sutlej rivers, that flow in from India would also be of great help for timely flood forecasting.

Officials in Bangladesh, however, said there had been some progress on hydrological data sharing with India as they were now getting information from three reading stations for the Ganges and four for the Bramhaputra in the Indian side.

The chief of Bangladesh's flood warning office, Amirul Hossain, said his country was also getting Bramhaputra's hydrological data from Chinese authorities in Tibet, where the river originates.

"But since our people are demanding that they should get flood warnings at least a week in advance, we would like to get the hydrological data from a bit further off areas in India so that we get more lead time for a forecast," Mr Hossain said.

Officials say the data Bangladesh gets from India at present are from nearby border areas.

Hydrological data is quite a sensitive issue in India, especially between states that have been at loggerheads over the sharing of water resources for quite some time.

The recent order by India's water resources ministry to its authorities regarding the constitution of the "classified data release committee" read: "The committee shall consider requests for release of classified data after due verification by the concerned chief engineer of the Central Water Commission and [the] receipt of [a] secrecy undertaking."

Rajendra Sharma, who heads Nepal's flood forecasting division at the country's meteorological office, said: "For genuine regional flood forecasting, all countries including India and China will have to actively participate in the exchange of hydrological and meteorological data."

Indian officials said they recognised the importance of cross border cooperation for effective flood forecasting.

Though he was optimistic that things could improve in future, M Shashidhar Reddy, vice chairman of India's National Disaster Management Authority, said: "Things which are on paper sometimes do not get translated into action."

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Best of our wild blogs: 18 Jul 13

Biodiversity in Singapore – Not Extinct!
from Pulau Hantu

Mangrove education at Festival of Biodiversity 2013
from Mangrove Action Squad

Back to work, civetgirls!
from Otterman speaks

Butterflies Galore! : Yamfly
from Butterflies of Singapore

Billions lost to corruption in Indonesia’s forest sector, says report
Mongabay.com news by Rhett Butler

80% of rainforests in Malaysian Borneo logged
from Mongabay.com news by Rhett Butler

Haze summit proposes sharing concession data, but keeping it hidden from the public from Mongabay.com news by Rhett Butler

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Malaysian activists protest Taiwan-invested petrochemical project in Pengerang

Focus Taiwan 18 Jul 13;

Taipei, July 18 (CNA) A group of activists from Malaysia staged a protest in Taipei Thursday against a plan by Taiwan's Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co. to move a controversial refinery project to their country.

Led by Johor State Legislative Assembly members Tan Hong Pin, Ee Chin Li and Chua Wee Beng, the activists gathered in front of the Presidential Office to voice their opposition to the investment plan.

They later delivered a letter of protest to the government.

At issue is a plan by Kuokuang, a subsidiary of the state-run oil refinery CPC Corp., to invest in a refinery and petrochemical complex located in Pengerang in the southern Malaysian state of Johor.

Kuokuang had originally planned to build a similar complex in Changhua, central Taiwan, but was forced to scrap the project in 2011 because it failed to pass local environmental assessments, and the company eventually decided to move it overseas.

"Malaysia is not a dumping ground," said Chua Peng Seng, acting chairman of the Pengerang NGO Alliance, which is promoting a civic campaign to save Pengerang, originally a serene fishing village, from industrial pollution.

According to Tan, Pengerang is famous for its seafood, especially lobster, and is a major habitat of the manatee, an endangered species.

The establishment of a petrochemical industry there will severely damage the local ecology and water resources, Tan warned.

"We welcome all sectors to visit and invest in Pengerang, but not if they want to build highly polluting plants there," he said.

In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it respects the opinions of the Malaysian protesters.

The Kuokuang investment plan is still undergoing an evaluation process in Malaysia, and the ministry has been tracking public opinion in the Southeast Asian country on the issue, said James Chou, deputy director-general of the Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

(By Zoe Wei, Angela Tsai and Y.F. Low)

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Strong peat land protection only way to keep haze away

Yuyun Indradi For The Straits Times 18 Jul 13;

THE Asean haze summit is a world away for those who are still recovering from last month's devastating forest fires and haze.

Take Mr Laskar Harianja, 30, a single father with three children (11, eight, and seven) in Rokan Hilir district in Sumatra. More than many, he has experienced the brunt of the forest fires that not only engulfed the region with record-breaking air pollution, but also burned away thousands of hectares of land and turned people's lives upside down.

Greenpeace went into the field two weeks ago, believing that the haze wave was affecting those in Sumatra as dramatically as it was Indonesia's neighbours such as Singapore. But what we actually witnessed was far more tragic.

Mr Laskar's wife died in 2009, and he has not remarried. To feed his family, he was relying on a 1ha pineapple farm behind his house. The arrangement allows him to work while looking after his kids. He spent about 10 million rupiah (S$1,200) on the seeds and the maintenance. When the fruit was ready for harvesting - which would have been early next year - he was hoping to make about 20 million rupiah. With this income, he had promised his young children a bicycle as a special gift. But the children will be waiting for a while longer.

The forest fires destroyed his farm, turning it to dust. His story is one among many. Another family we spoke to said their grandparents died while trying to fight the flames that were creeping onto their lands. In Dumai, we saw children who were being treated in local hospitals having breathed in air thick with acrid smoke.

These stories tell the human face of the forest fires that have gripped the island of Sumatra.

But since the worst has passed, governments, companies, communities and NGOs have all played the blame game, attempting to pin this environmental disaster on someone, or something. Greenpeace was among the first to release analysis confirming that the majority of the fires were on peat lands - carbon rich, moist and making up around 0.01 per cent of the earth's surface. A natural, undisturbed peat forest is a swamp that is resilient to fires. But when the land is cleared, and the peat drained to make way for plantations for crops such as oil palm, it becomes fire-prone. A fire, no matter who started it, sets this rich material ablaze. It sizzles and smoulders deep below the earth, billowing up whenever a gust of wind feeds it with oxygen.

As long as carbon-rich peat lands are drained for the relentless expansion of oil palm plantations, the conditions for next year's fire crisis will remain. These fires are a reminder of the need for strong forest and peat land protection, not only because these are much more resilient to fires, but also because it is the degradation of peat that has pushed Indonesia into the ranks of the world's biggest carbon emitters.

Greenpeace demands stronger forest protection, including the implementation of a full ban on peat land development on existing concessions, and the enforcement of laws prohibiting fire clearing.

There is one aspect to this annual story we cannot ignore: The companies clearing and draining peat are laying the foundations for these fires. These companies sell palm oil tainted with forest destruction to the global markets through traders like Singapore-based Wilmar International. Wilmar has declared that it will exclude palm oil from companies involved in the fires. But this statement is only meaningful if the company ensures that it will no longer buy or trade with any company that is involved in peat drainage.

Corporations must be brought to account for their role in the forest fires. Simply pointing to no-burning policies and distancing themselves through their complicated third-party relationships with suppliers is not enough. We know that the conditions that led to this disaster did not happen overnight. It is the result of decades of forest clearance.

This is why Greenpeace demands that companies and governments step up, take responsibility, and commit to zero deforestation and full peat land protection.

Asean will need to come up with more than words. People across the region demand action now.

The writer is a forest campaigner from Greenpeace South-east Asia.

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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

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Haze risk will remain high

Nigel Sizer Jakarta Post 17 Jul 13;

Following record-breaking air pollution across Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, ministers from five Southeast Asian countries will meet in Kuala Lumpur this week for urgent talks on combating the haze.

New analysis of the patterns and causes of the fires in Sumatra that caused the haze highlights serious issues at the kickoff of this 15th meeting of the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution.

The new analysis from the World Resources Institute (WRI), which has been closely monitoring the fires since they began, highlights four key challenges that should help set the agenda for the Ministers of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Thailand.

First, pulpwood and oil palm concessions have a more significant role in the fires that we earlier thought. WRI’s analysis shows that that the number of fire alerts per hectare, in other words their density, is three to four times higher within pulpwood and oil palm concession boundaries than outside those boundaries.

In other words, the companies and their land played an important role in the fire and haze episode and they should take greater responsibility in helping prevent future fires.

This conclusion is based on analysis of the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry’s databases of maps together with NASA fire alert data observed from space.

Second, however, there are significant discrepancies between the Ministry of Forestry’s maps and those being used by the companies themselves.

Company “Business Land Use Rights” license boundaries (or in Indonesian, Hak Guna Usaha — HGU), made available to WRI, are generally nested within and smaller than the concession boundaries the government is using.

This is creating confusion about responsibility for fires found on land thought to be within concessions but outside areas the companies fully control and are directly developing.

Third, about two thirds of the fires appear to have been on peatland. This heightens concern since fires on peat, with its richness of combustible organic matter stretching deep into the soil, are far more serious from both a human health and environmental perspective than those on non-peat soils. Peat fires release larger amounts of smoke, haze, other pollutants and greenhouse gases. They can burn on for weeks or even months.

Fourth and most importantly, there is a high risk of repeated fire and haze crises in the coming months and years.

The fires of June 2013 were not an unusual event. We can see from the historical record that while a large number of fire alerts occurred this June, there have, in fact, been two worse periods in the last decade, occurring in 2005 and 2006.

The record levels of smog experienced in Singapore and Malaysia this year were the result of shifting wind patterns, not unusually high levels of forest fires.

In other words, forest fires in Indonesia are part of a long-standing, endemic problem — one that calls for a coordinated and comprehensive solution.

What can the ministers do to address these challenges?

Interestingly, they already seem to know. According to the official media release from their previous meeting, held a year-and-a-half ago in Bali, they agreed that, “digital geo-referenced concession maps” should be shared between the governments, “to hold plantation companies and land owners responsible.”

They also noted that, “greater transparency is required to make plantation companies and land owners more accountable,” and that member states should “undertake more deterrent and effective enforcement measures against offenders.”

The ministers should now redouble efforts and agree on more precise and urgent next steps, together with clear milestones of progress for the public to monitor.

More specific actions include immediately prioritizing and accelerating the Indonesian government’s highly strategic “One Map Initiative.”

This effort is creating an authoritative single database to clarify concession boundaries and ownerships for the entire country, but is expected to take another three years to complete.

Sumatra’s Riau province, where most of the fires were seen, should be prioritized and mapped much more quickly.

The resulting maps should also be made freely available to the public in digital format so that they can easily be used for independent analysis and monitoring of fires and forest clearing, as well as to support law enforcement.

Similar information should also be shared by other countries in the region, such as Malaysia, which has also seen a significant number of fire alerts recently in Sarawak.

In the meantime, existing government and company maps, which have not been made public, should be released.

On the enforcement side, the ministers from Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia should commit to work together on the investigation of any crimes that may have been committed.

While the bulk of the police work needs to be done in Indonesia, some of the larger companies now under suspicion also have strong ties to Singapore and Malaysia.

The governments of these countries should look for ways to hold the companies accountable for the damage inflicted on their people.

The neighboring governments can also help Indonesia to unravel complex ownership structures of the companies since many arms-length subsidiaries also seem to be implicated.

Top national and local officials as well as corporate executives and community leaders should also get together to see what practical steps they can take in unison to more quickly address land conflict.

In the immediate term they can also pool their monitoring and fire-fighting capabilities to be ready to respond much more quickly when dry weather and fire alerts rear their ugly heads again.

Meanwhile longer term intensive efforts are needed to work with local landowners and communities to ensure that mechanical land clearing, rather than fire, is the tool of choice for preparing farm land, as well as effectively preventing illegal encroachment and burning especially on peatland.

The ministerial meeting in Malaysia is an opportunity to make rapid progress. The ministers should agree on a more precise plan where concession data is consistent between government agencies and companies, is made public, criminal burning of forests is investigated and prosecuted, and better management practices are instituted across the region’s forest lands.

Now it is up to the people of the region to hold the officials’ feet to the fire to ensure this urgent call is not ignored.

The writer leads the forests team at World Resources Institute, an independent global think tank with offices in Washington DC and around the world.

Read more!

No shortage, but expect less fresh fish

Melissa Lin Straits Times 18 Jul 13;

SINGAPORE fish merchants, worried that Malaysia may suspend the export of even more seafood in the future, say consumers may have to start settling for fish which is less fresh.

Last week's two-month ban on five species was due to seasonal demand pushing up prices by 30 to 40 per cent in parts of the country, Malaysia's Fisheries Development Authority marketing director Mohari Mohd Tamin told The Straits Times yesterday.

He added that the export ban on Indian mackerel (kembung), short-bodied mackerel (pelaling), hardtail scad (cencaru), round scad (selayang) and one-finlet scad (selar) was not exclusive to Singapore, as Thailand, Indonesia and the Middle East were also affected.

The impact of the ban, which began last Wednesday, is not as widespread as initially feared here. The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) clarified yesterday that the five species from Malaysia made up less than 4 per cent of the total imported from around the world last year.

Singapore Fish Merchants' General Association president Lee Boon Cheow also gave an assurance that there will not be a shortage of the banned fish in markets. Its members are already looking to sources in Thailand and Indonesia.

But consumers may have to settle for fish which is less fresh as it can take at least two days to bring stocks to Singapore, he added. Fish from Malaysia is usually sent here the day after being caught.

The ban has dented business confidence, members of the association told reporters yesterday.

Kian Huat Fish Merchant normally imports 2,000kg to 4,000kg of fish from Malaysia daily, of which 80 per cent are the banned varieties. Owner Lim Ah Lik is now increasing his imports from Thailand to make up for the shortfall, and may do so for the long term so as to decrease reliance on Malaysian suppliers.

A joint $7 million investment project with his friends to build a frozen fish factory in Iskandar, Johor, has also been put on hold.

"I am reconsidering. If they suddenly ban the export of fish, I won't be able to sell my products in Singapore and will make a loss," Mr Lim said.

Many were upset with how sudden the ban was.

"They announced it only on Facebook," said Mr Ang Kieow Mok, who co-owns Chuan Hin Fish Industry & Co.

He said many of the merchants found out about it only through their transport operators who, three days before the ban took effect, were given slips of paper at the Malaysian Customs listing the types of fish affected.

Mr Ang, who is also the association's vice-president, added: "Who knows, they may ban prawns or squid next."

The association will meet AVA officials tomorrow to discuss the issue and possible solutions, including asking Malaysia to allow small amounts of the banned fish to be exported, Mr Lee said.

Housewife Lynda Yeo, 53, said she usually buys kembung imported from Malaysia because it is fresher but does not mind switching to those from other countries.

She said: "The meat won't be as sweet but I'm okay with that as long as the fish was stored properly."

Additional reporting by Lester Kong

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Malaysia: New attractions at elephant sanctuary

T. N. Alagesh New Straits Times 18 Jul 13;

BETTER EXPERIENCE: Upgrades and other activities to replace popular jumbo rides

TEMERLOH: Although visitors are no longer allowed to ride on and bath with the adult pachyderms at Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary in Lanchang near here, the centre is still a popular destination when it managed to attract 58,000 visitors in the first six months of this year.

It was previously reported that the centre had lost its appeal after the management stopped the elephant riding and bathing activities in October last year, in compliance with the Wildlife Protection Act 2010.

Sanctuary head Nasharuddin Othman said they would organise new activities to attract people to the centre, which received 177,000 visitors last year.

"Early this year, we re-introduced the bathing activity but only with the elephant calves. As part of safety procedure, we assigned between four and six workers to handle the bathing activity," he said at the sanctuary yesterday.

He also said visitors were no longer allowed to climb on the young elephants.

"They can only scrub and splash water on the mammals. At the same time, we will allow them to take photographs while participating in the activity, which is still receiving strong support so far."

Apart from that, he said visitors were also allowed to feed the young elephants, watch adult elephants take a dip in the river with their mahouts and enjoy a 15-minute performance by seven animals.

Nasharuddin said the centre had to take a new approach to fulfil its objective to educate people on the gentle giants.

"Gone are the days when elephants were only trained to perform at a circus or do tricks for entertainment. That is why we've decided to introduce activities that will help people understand these animals better and appreciate them."

He said the sanctuary would also organise activities with the Che Wong Orang Asli community nearby, where visitors could join them in jungle trekking and night walks.

"They can also visit the Orang Asli village and buy their bamboo handicraft. This will help reduce the stress on the elephants as previously, most of the activities revolved around them."

He said upgrading works were being carried out at the sanctuary and would be completed next year.

Apart from a new tourist information centre, the sanctuary will also have roofed walkways, hanging bridges and a water-retention pond.

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