ASEAN officials conclude haze pollution meeting in Brunei

Environment ministers from five ASEANmember countries concluded their meeting on transboundary haze pollution hereWednesday, pledging to continue to be vigilant and take additional preventivemeasures and immediate fire suppression when transboundary haze occurs in thefuture.The ministers or their representatives from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singaporeand Thailand provided guidance on the implementation of the Strategic Review ofthe Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee Programs and Activities, whichcovers enhancing haze control management through early warning/ monitoring, fireprevention and fire suppression, according to a press release issued following theclosed-door meeting.This includes the establishment of a task force to review alert levels and formulatetrigger points to ensure expeditious fire suppression and effective emergencyresponse. Malaysia is expected to host the first meeting of the task force in June this year.The ten ASEAN member countries signed the ASEAN Agreement on TransboundaryHaze Pollution on June 10, 2002, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The agreement is the first regional arrangement in the world that binds a group ofcontiguous states to tackle transboundary haze pollution resulting from land andforest fires. It has also been considered as a global role model for the tackling oftransboundary issues.Some ASEAN countries, including Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore andThailand, are bothered with the thorny issue of transboundary haze which is caused by annual forest fires.