ASEAN Haze Agreement

The ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution was implemented on 10 June 2002. Since 1985, ASEAN has identified haze as a regional problem, and a convened a task-force was formed to address the issue. However, real solution and mitigation strategies were created until the severe haze in 1997. The 1997 haze was a fillip to the regional body, a regional solution was thus devised. One of these regional solutions was RHAP-Regional Haze Action Plan. RHAP is a non-binding agreement for members to develop national plans, guidelines and other measures to prevent and mitigate fires that could create haze.

The objective of  RHAP is to mitigate and/or monitor trans-boundary haze pollution that results from land or forest fires. It aims to mitigate haze through concerted national efforts, intensified regional and intensified international co-operation. The participating countries are expected to co-operate and implement measures to prevent haze. However, the ASEAN initiatives to mitigate haze till this date, has not been effective. This might be because members are allowed to cherry-pick the initiatives that they prefer to pursue; therefore these solutions are often based off on their national interests.

REDD

REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) was implemented by the UN (United Nations) in 2008 to reduce haze emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries.  It also aims to inculcate the act of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks to developing countries. In essence, developing countries that are willing and able to, will receive financial compensation as an incentive whenever they reduce their carbon emission.

Indonesia Singapore Collaboration in Jambi Province

After the haze episode in 2006, Indonesia seeks collaboration with ASEAN countries to mitigate deforestations under Indonesia’s Plan of Action. In January 2007, Singapore formalised their collaboration with Jambi and came up with programmes to prevent forest fires.

The programmes includes the setting up the air quality weather monitoring stations in Muaro Jambi Regency. Another programme involves the training on “Fire Prevention and Suppression Capabilities”. These measures helped to effectively monitor the state of air quality and provide alerts on the dangers of fire.

Unfortunately, the programmes seemed to have stopped due to various reasons. The Jambi government does not have enough resources to keep the monitoring stations running. According to The Strait Times, the tape used to record the data on the monitoring stations ran out, and were not replaced due to its high cost. Furthermore, the $1 million collaboration project known as “Aqua culture project”, planned to replace deforestation into fish farming, did not work due to the lack of infrastructural support for the export of the produce. Despite having some struggles in continuing the programme, there were a decrease in forest fire hotspots. The number of hotspots shrank to less than 10 per cent of what was recorded in 2006 – from 1,909 hot spots in 2006 to 189 in 2011. This is probably due to the increased awareness of the consequence of slashing and burn among the Indonesian locals.

References:

http://haze.asean.org/?wpfb_dl=32

http://app.mewr.gov.sg/web/contents/Contents.aspx?Yr=2009&ContId=1341

http://www.stasiareport.com/the-big-story/asia-report/indonesia/story/spore-funded-efforts-fight-haze-face-challenges-ground-201

http://www.e101.gov.sg/haze/presscentre.htm

http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/haze-update-n95-masks-sell-out-quickly-pharmacies-20130622