ASEAN ministers vow to curb pollution
ASEAN ministers vow to curb pollution
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Indonesia yesterday announced plans to
open up fire-prone areas for redevelopment as ASEAN's environment
ministers adopted a joint plan to curb cross-border pollution
plaguing the region.
The ministers of the six-member Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) said the plan reflected a common resolve to curb
common environmental problems facing the region.
"It is a new milestone to beat transboundary pollution,"
Malaysia's environment minister Law Hieng Ding told reporters at
the end of four days of talks with his ASEAN colleagues to adopt
a 23-page communique outlining the plan of action.
Singapore's Environment Minister Teo Chee Hean said the island
state particularly welcomed the long-term measures agreed by
Indonesia to minimize forest fires and the burning of biomass
from land clearance.
A thick haze enveloped large swathes of Southeast Asia for
several months last year due to forest fires in Kalimantan and
Sumatra, causing respiratory problems and disrupting flight
schedules at regional airports.
"The Singapore Meteorological Service will offer to
disseminate weather reports and satellite images showing the
forest fires in the region to ASEAN members," Teo said.
The ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution entails
a four-point strategy to deal with the haze.
It involved timely detection and prevention of forest fires,
prohibition of burning of biomass, ensuring minimal pollution
from local sources during the hazy periods, and promoting
investments in the alternative uses of biomass from land
clearance.
Indonesian Minister for the Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja
said Jakarta planned to turn fire-prone peat fields into
agricultural areas and allow commercial mining of coal beds in
its forests to help reduce the outbreak of fires.
"Investors are invited to make use of our peat fields and coal
beds," Sarwono said.
The Indonesian government, which lost US$250 million in forest
and other resources due to the fires last year alone, is also
establishing a coordinating agency to prevent forest fires.
Earlier this month Indonesia said it had set up an early
warning system for forest fires.
While some of the fires started off spontaneously due to the
dry season, others were reportedly triggered by farmers who adopt
slash-and-burn farming practices.
Sarwono said the Indonesian government has received
applications to turn some of the peat field areas in central
Kalimantan on Borneo island into rice estates, and palm oil and
pineapple plantations.
The government is also looking at legislation to allow
commercial coal mining in those areas, Sarwono said.
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore were represented by
their environment ministers while the other two ASEAN members the
Philippines and Thailand were represented by senior officials.