ASEAN outlines plan against fires, haze<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (AP): Now that heavy rains have doused Indonesian
\nwildfires, Southeast Asian nations outlined a plan yesterday to
\ncatch blazes more quickly, using military planes for aerial
\nsurveillance, clearer satellite photos and international aid
\nmoney for fuel and training.<\/p>\n
It's an expensive plan, \"but it's much more expensive to fight
\nfires that are out of control,\" Singapore's environment minister
\nYeo Cheow Tong told reporters after a one-day meeting on how to
\navoid a repeat of last year's costly fires and cross-border haze
\npollution.<\/p>\n
\"A repeat of this disaster will surely aggravate the already
\nbad regional economic situation,\" Yeo had told fellow ministers
\nand officials from the nine-member Association of Southeast Asian
\nNations (ASEAN).<\/p>\n
Conservative estimates are that last year's disaster cost
\nabout US$4.5 billion, not counting the loss of human and animal
\nlife, plus the continuing disturbance of tourism, health costs
\nand damage to forests up until May this year from the lingering
\nrain forest fires on Borneo.<\/p>\n
The United Nations Environment Program is coordinating donor
\ncountries toward a target of US$10 million to help prevent new
\nfires and put out existing ones. Some are taking a wait-and-see
\nattitude, because of recent rains.<\/p>\n
However, underground peat and coal seam fires, the most
\ndifficult to extinguish, are still burning. The United States has
\ncommitted part of its $6 million in anti-fire aid money to focus
\non those unique types of fires, and American experts are heading
\ninto the region now to assess them and give advice, officials
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, new hot spots have been detected in central
\nSumatra, resulting in some haze drifting over Singapore.<\/p>\n
The new Indonesian government, which has made forest fire-
\nfighting its second priority after food, is doing all it can to
\nquickly put out the Sumatran fires before they spread, an
\nIndonesian official told reporters.<\/p>\n
\"For sure, it's not enough,\" said Effendy A. Sumardja,
\nassistant minister for environment coordination. \"That's the
\nreason why we need the support.\" He said the government had
\nallocated $4 million to fire fighting this year \"but it isn't
\nenough. Particularly nowadays, in the crisis period, I'm not sure
\nwhether the money is still there.\"<\/p>\n
Within two weeks, he said, Indonesia plans to provide four
\nmilitary planes, and civilian and military personnel, for aerial
\nsurveillance in four provinces.<\/p>\n
The satellite photos now in use are not detailed enough to
\nspot fires when they first break out. Better pictures will cost
\nmore.<\/p>\n
\"A delay of half a day could result in a fire growing quite
\nsubstantially,\" said Yeo of Singapore.<\/p>\n
The ASEAN officials and ministers urged their governments to
\nconsider changing laws so that any landowner is presumed to be
\nresponsible when a fire breaks out on his property. Malaysia and
\nBrunei have such so-called \"presumptive clauses.\"<\/p>\n
About 80 percent of the fires that burned agricultural land,
\ngrassland and rain forest in Indonesia since last year are blamed
\non large landowners who illegally use fire to clear away unwanted
\nvegetation. But it is often hard to prove who set the fire, said
\nYeo.<\/p>",
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