Call for common forest fire laws

Call for common forest fire laws

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): As the spread of wildfires and haze
intensifies throughout Southeast Asia, the head of a regional
group has proposed drafting common laws to increase the efficacy
of firefighting efforts, a newspaper reported yesterday.

Rodolfo C. Severino, secretary-general for the Association of
Southeast Asian nations, said legal loopholes in each of the
group's nine member nations have allowed fires to flourish, The
Star newspaper reported.

To prod governments to tackle the fires immediately, Severino
suggested that ASEAN governments set up common laws addressing
forest fires and the environment, report said.

Severino said that existing common agreements between ASEAN
countries were mainly economic, but he added these "may have to
be extended to other areas, and the environment may be among
them."