KUALA LUMPUR: ASEAN nations have adopted a roadmap on collaborative actions to control transboundary haze pollution, with the goal of achieving a transboundary haze-free ASEAN by 2020.

This was announced at a press conference for the ASEAN ministerial-level meeting on tackling transboundary haze held on Thursday (Aug 11), the 12th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. It was the first such meeting since smoke shrouded parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore for weeks in 2015.

Slash and burn fires in Indonesian forests were largely blamed for triggering the haze that kept people indoors or having to wear masks before stepping out of the house. Even neighbouring Malaysia was forced to close schools for days.

The meeting also looked back on the year that was and planned for the year ahead.

SINGAPORE HOPEFUL GOAL WILL BE ACHIEVED

A haze-free ASEAN by 2020 is an ambitious goal given haze has been almost an annual occurrence in some of the region's nations. However, Singapore, one of the countries hit hardest by the smoke, is hopeful.

Said its Minister for Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli: "I think if everyone sets out (to do) what they want to do, and if there's political will and the enforcement of the national laws that will prevent those things from happening, I'm very certain this will be achieved.

"But everyone must play their part. Even our own consumers in Singapore must play their part. We can't be complaining about the haze and then buying the products that are produced in the concession areas which produce this haze."

Malaysia's Minister for Natural Resources and Environment Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said his Indonesian counterpart has assured him the haze this year will not be as bad as the last.

However, Dr Siti Nurbaya Bakar was absent from the meeting for the second year in a row, as she was busy with a Conservation Day event in Bali.

"We have suffered from forest fires, which is why we have many initiatives, not just on the police level, but by the local government as well," said Mr Arief Yuwono, senior adviser on energy to the Minister of Environment and Forestry in Indonesia, when asked about the country's commitment to the cause. 

ASEAN REAFFIRMS SUPPORT FOR INDONESIA'S COORDINATING CENTRE PLANS

At the meeting in Kuala Lumpur, ASEAN reaffirmed its support for Indonesia's plans to host a ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Transboundary Haze Pollution Control, which is a place to arrange and sync up regional assistance when combating haze.

Singapore and Malaysia already say they stand ready to share skills and resources to help countries like Indonesia tackle forest fires, but they need to be asked.

Said Mr Wan Junaidi: "Don't assume that just because we have something here, we can just bulldoze (through) anything, that when we know there is a fire somewhere, we can just go in on a boat or ship or truck or car, and cross over to the border and start doing it, we can't do it like that.

"That's still a foreign country and we have to deal with them and we must respect our neighbour's sovereignty. We cannot assume that because the agreement already exists and we want to set up certain things, that we (can) do it whatever way we want to. We can't."

Meanwhile, Malaysia is looking to implement laws similar to Singapore that will allow it to take action against companies responsible for haze affecting the nation.

The next ASEAN meeting on transboundary haze pollution takes place in Brunei next year.

Channel News Asia