Jakarta, 12 Aug. 1999 - Demonstrating a sense of urgency, ASEAN Ministers responsible for transboundary haze pollution have decided to advance their meeting at the end of August to assess the regional haze situation and review the implementation of the ASEAN Regional Haze Action Plan.  They were originally scheduled to meet in October this year.

Meanwhile, ASEAN and its individual members countries have intensified their efforts to monitor and suppress the spread of forest fires, which are currently causing the regional haze pollution affecting Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and, to some extent, Brunei Darussalam.  Several hotspots have been found in the northern part of Sumatra, including Riau, and the south-western part of Kalimantan, including West and Central Kalimantan provinces of Indonesia.

Wild land fires on a scale large enough to produce transboundary haze pollution have occurred in the region occasionally during the past two decades.  Natural causes accounted for less than one percent of the fires that produced the haze events, the remaining 99 percent being deliberately set for purposes of land conversion, which is driven by small- and large-scale economic activities.

Unlike in 1997, ASEAN now has in place a Regional Haze Action Plan to complement and support the individual National Haze Action Plans.  The Regional Plan has established operational mechanisms to monitor land and forest fires and strengthen fire-fighting capability.  An ASEAN Working Group has been tasked to monitor the operations of sub-regional Fire-Fighting Arrangements for Sumatra and Borneo.  In April this year, ASEAN agreed to impose a zero burning policy among plantation owners and timber concessionaires, particularly in Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.  Dialogue sessions between government authorities and plantation owners are regularly held. A Coordinating Support Unit has been established in the ASEAN Secretariat to facilitate the implementation of the Action Plan.  In cooperation with the Canadian Forest Service, ASEAN has established the Fire Weather Information System to provide maps describing the current fire weather situation in Southeast Asia.  Germany has given technical assistance to Indonesia through the Integrated Forest Fire Management Project using multisensoral satellite images.

Indonesian forest rangers and civil defense personnel, in cooperation with local communities, have extinguished fires in about 20 hectares of burnt lands surrounding the Minas Grand Forest Park and approximately 10 hectares of burnt lands near Pekanbaru.  According to reports from forest rangers, most fires occur in areas less than one hectare in scale, especially in Bengkalis and Kampar districts.  However, fires in commercial plantations have also been detected.  On 4 August 1999, Riau police investigated two local plantation companies, which were found burning forest to clear land.

Indonesia has designated the Ministry of Forestry and Estate Crops (MoFEC) as the main agency responsible for the fire suppression.  The Ministry's Command Posts in all affected provinces have started to operate on a 24-hour basis.

Since last month, the Governor of West Kalimantan has mobilized government agencies at all levels to (1) stop the practice of clearing lands using burning methods, (2) activate their fire-fighting groups, (3) strengthen early detection capability, and (4) intensify awareness campaign and local communities participation in fire control.  The Provincial Government of West Kalimantan conduct aerial surveillance on a continuing basis over the areas prone to forest fires.

Forecast by the ASEAN Specialized Meteorological Center indicates that the moderate La Nina should persist until the end of 1999.  Consequently, rainfall in most parts of the region is expected to be near or above normal for the next few months.  However, it should be noted that many parts of Indonesia (Kalimantan and parts of Sumatra) are currently in their traditionally dry season which usually lasts from June to October.  With the onset of dry weather, sporadic forest fires and resultant smoke haze are likely to continue to affect the region during this period.  However, given that the La Nina should continue to be present for the rest of the year, the chance of widespread regional haze is expected to be low.

To keep the public informed, ASEAN is maintaining a website (www.haze-online.or.id) containing regular update on the haze situation in the region.