RI under pressure to ratify anti-haze deal
RI under pressure to ratify anti-haze deal
Yeoh En-Lai, Associated Press/Singapore
Southeast Asian governments agreed on Thursday to launch a fund
to support environmental projects in the region, and Indonesia's
neighbors called on it to ratify a deal to introduce anti-haze
pollution laws.
Environment ministers and other officials from the 10
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were also set to
consider how to clean up their cities and educate the region's
500 million people on environmental protection during their two-
day ASEAN environmental summit, which ends on Friday.
ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong said member nations
planned to establish the fund by the end of 2004, and that it
could be worth up to US$10 million (euro 8.15 million). How much
money each member will contribute has yet to be agreed, he said,
adding that China, South Korea and Japan were also considering
collaborating on the Southeast Asian fund.
The ministers have not decided exactly how the fund will work,
but it will support existing projects and be used to kick-start
new ones, with a focus on education programs in poverty-stricken
rural areas, Ong told reporters.
"We can say: 'don't throw rubbish into the river.' But where
else can you throw?" he said, referring to the lack of proper
disposal and sanitation facilities in many ASEAN nations.
Ong said more education on protecting natural resources and
sustainable development was needed across the region.
Ong and Singaporean Environment Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said
ASEAN is committed to reducing the pollution and haze caused by
open burning and forest clearing, particularly in Indonesia.
In 1997-98, blazes on oil palm plantations and farms on
Indonesia's Sumatra and Kalimantan islands burned out of control
for weeks, destroying 10 million hectares of land and blanketing
Singapore and parts of Malaysia and Indonesia with thick smoke.
Economic losses from those fires topped US$9.3 billion (euro
7.6 billion) and prompted a 2002 agreement among six of the 10
ASEAN members, but not Indonesia, to fight fire pollution. The
agreement came into force late last year, but Indonesia has not
ratified the deal.
"We are in a delicate diplomacy to get Indonesia to ratify the
agreement," said Ong. "As for enforcement, we believe Indonesia
has done all it can."
Last month, over a thousand fires were reported in both
Kalimantan and Sumatra - sending smoke again to Singapore and
Malaysia.
ASEAN comprises Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand,
Philippines, Brunei, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.