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."