eTN Asia, 13-11-2006
The member states from the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) met in Cebu, Philippines following a call for a special session and have agreed on a more coordinated and streamlined action plan to tackle the annual forest fires that have been originating from Indonesia.
Environment ministers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Brunei, which comprise the most affected by the yearly recurring smog, have agreed on the Regional Action Plan (RAP) as a long-term plan, offering Indonesia's farmers alternative ways of land clearing.
Said Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Singapore's environment minister, "We are looking at the programs at the local level where we adopt one of the fire-prone districts, and the regional level."
Despite adoption of the plan, the delegates agreed there is no “quick fix” to the problem and it will be some time before the region sees its effectiveness.
"Since we are now solidly together, this heralds a more promising future," said Rahmat Witoelar, Indonesian environment minister. "We are watching closely potential spontaneous burnings in the uninhabited areas."
Witoelar added that 90 percent of the land and forest fires on Sumatra and Borneo islands have been extinguished. "But the fires could flare up in early 2007 should El Nino conditions intensify."
Under the action plan, Indonesia's farming community will be offered alternative ways of land clearing and rehabilitating its vast areas of dry peat land, the source of forest fires during the Indonesian dry season.
