Bandar Seri Begawan, 4th August 2001: The Twelfth Meeting of the ASEAN Senior Officials on the Environment was held on 3-4 August, 2001 in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam. The Meeting was attended by Senior Officials from each ASEAN Member Countries, and representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat.
The Meeting reviewed developments relating to environmental cooperation in the ASEAN region, and discussed implementation of cooperative activities based on the Ha Noi Plan of Action and Strategic Plan of Action on the Environment. The areas of cooperation include transboundary haze pollution, nature conservation and biodiversity, multilateral environmental agreements, coastal and marine environment, and various other environmental activities. The Senior Officials also discussed follow-up actions on the decisions made by the Environment Ministers at their 8th formal meeting in October, 2000 in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia and the 6th Informal Meeting in May 2001 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
On transboundary haze pollution, the Meeting noted that there was a low chance of an El Nino developing later this year. However, during the current southwest monsoon, there was still a likelihood of some areas (Central and South Sumatra), experiencing drier than normal weather. This could lead to periodic occurrences of slight to moderate haze in the region. The Meeting resolved to step up efforts to mitigate land and forest fires.
The Meeting noted the difficulties in implementing the zero burning policy at the field level, particularly for the local communities. The Meeting therefore agreed to work towards banning all forms of open burning as a long-term strategy within the period of southwesterly monsoon, especially during the months of July to September. As a short-to-medium term strategy, the Meeting also agreed to continue the current efforts on public awareness programmes and development of guidelines and techniques for controlled burning method.
The Meeting also noted that considerable progress had been made with regard to the formulation of the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, and that the Senior Officials are committed to ensure that the Agreement would be signed during the ASEAN Summit in November 2001 in Brunei Darussalam.
Regarding multilateral environmental agreements, the Meeting noted that a training workshop on chemical-related MEAs would be held in Kuala Lumpur, and an ASEAN case study on synergies and interlinkages among MEAs would be conducted soon. The Meeting also agreed to hold an experts meeting of climate change focal points in October, 2001 in Singapore to discuss, among others, follow-up actions of the recent climate change negotiations, regional activities on climate change, and preparation for
COP 7.
On coastal and marine environment, the Meeting endorsed a proposal on Regional Coordination for Integrated Protection and Management of Coastal and Marine Environment in South East Asia for implementation. The Meeting also agreed to forge closer collaboration with the relevant activities of other international organizations in the region.
The Meeting noted that the “Second ASEAN State of the Environment Report 2000” has been published. The ASEAN Secretariat would launch this publication as well as other environmental publications, such as ”Fire, Smoke and Haze: the ASEAN Response Strategy’’ and the ”ASEAN Environmental Education Action Plan 2000-2005” on 14 August 2001 at the ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta. The event is part of ASEAN’s efforts to publicize its regional environmental activities, and for the relevant parties to be informed and to partake in enhancing regional cooperation on the environment.
The Senior Officials discussed cooperative programmes with representatives of the Governments of Japan and the Republic of Korea within the framework of ASEAN+3 Cooperation. The Senior Officials also discussed cooperative activities with several international organizations, namely the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations University, and the United States Asia Environmental Partnership.
The Meeting was held in the traditional spirit of ASEAN cordiality and solidarity.
