• Home
  • About RSIS
    • Introduction
    • Building the Foundations
    • Welcome Message
    • Board of Governors
    • Staff Profiles
      • Executive Deputy Chairman’s Office
      • Dean’s Office
      • Management
      • Distinguished Fellows
      • Faculty and Research
      • Associate Research Fellows, Senior Analysts and Research Analysts
      • Visiting Fellows
      • Adjunct Fellows
      • Administrative Staff
    • Honours and Awards for RSIS Staff and Students
    • RSIS Endowment Fund
    • Endowed Professorships
    • Career Opportunities
    • Getting to RSIS
  • Research
    • Research Centres
      • Centre for Multilateralism Studies (CMS)
      • Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre)
      • Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS)
      • Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS)
      • International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR)
    • Research Programmes
      • National Security Studies Programme (NSSP)
      • Studies in Inter-Religious Relations in Plural Societies (SRP) Programme
    • Research @ RSIS
    • Other Programmes
      • Science and Technology Studies Programme (STSP)
  • Graduate Education
    • Graduate Programmes Office
    • Overview
    • MSc (Asian Studies)
    • MSc (International Political Economy)
    • MSc (International Relations)
    • MSc (Strategic Studies)
    • NTU-Warwick Double Masters Programme
    • PhD Programme
    • Exchange Partners and Programmes
    • How to Apply
    • Financial Assistance
    • Information Sessions
    • RSIS Alumni
  • Alumni & Networks
    • Alumni
    • Asia-Pacific Programme for Senior Military Officers (APPSMO)
    • Asia-Pacific Programme for Senior National Security Officers (APPSNO)
    • SRP Executive Programme
    • Terrorism Analyst Training Course (TATC)
  • Publications
    • RSIS Publications
      • Annual Reviews
      • Books
      • Bulletins and Newsletters
      • Commentaries
      • Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses
      • Commemorative / Event Reports
      • IDSS Paper
      • Interreligious Relations
      • Monographs
      • NTS Insight
      • Policy Reports
      • Working Papers
      • RSIS Publications for the Year
    • Glossary of Abbreviations
    • External Publications
      • Authored Books
      • Journal Articles
      • Edited Books
      • Chapters in Edited Books
      • Policy Reports
      • Working Papers
      • Op-Eds
      • External Publications for the Year
    • Policy-relevant Articles Given RSIS Award
  • Media
    • COVID-19 Resources
    • Cohesive Societies
    • Great Powers
    • Sustainable Security
    • Other Resource Pages
    • Media Highlights
    • News Releases
    • Speeches
    • Vidcast Channel
    • Audio/Video Forums
  • Events
  • Giving
  • Contact Us
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
RSISVideoCast RSISVideoCast rsis.sg
Linkedin
instagram instagram rsis.sg
RSS
  • Home
  • About RSIS
      • Introduction
      • Building the Foundations
      • Welcome Message
      • Board of Governors
      • Staff Profiles
        • Executive Deputy Chairman’s Office
        • Dean’s Office
        • Management
        • Distinguished Fellows
        • Faculty and Research
        • Associate Research Fellows, Senior Analysts and Research Analysts
        • Visiting Fellows
        • Adjunct Fellows
        • Administrative Staff
      • Honours and Awards for RSIS Staff and Students
      • RSIS Endowment Fund
      • Endowed Professorships
      • Career Opportunities
      • Getting to RSIS
  • Research
      • Research Centres
        • Centre for Multilateralism Studies (CMS)
        • Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre)
        • Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS)
        • Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS)
        • International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR)
      • Research Programmes
        • National Security Studies Programme (NSSP)
        • Studies in Inter-Religious Relations in Plural Societies (SRP) Programme
      • Research @ RSIS
      • Other Programmes
        • Science and Technology Studies Programme (STSP)
  • Graduate Education
      • Graduate Programmes Office
      • Overview
      • MSc (Asian Studies)
      • MSc (International Political Economy)
      • MSc (International Relations)
      • MSc (Strategic Studies)
      • NTU-Warwick Double Masters Programme
      • PhD Programme
      • Exchange Partners and Programmes
      • How to Apply
      • Financial Assistance
      • Information Sessions
      • RSIS Alumni
  • Alumni & Networks
      • Alumni
      • Asia-Pacific Programme for Senior Military Officers (APPSMO)
      • Asia-Pacific Programme for Senior National Security Officers (APPSNO)
      • SRP Executive Programme
      • Terrorism Analyst Training Course (TATC)
  • Publications
      • RSIS Publications
        • Annual Reviews
        • Books
        • Bulletins and Newsletters
        • Commentaries
        • Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses
        • Commemorative / Event Reports
        • IDSS Paper
        • Interreligious Relations
        • Monographs
        • NTS Insight
        • Policy Reports
        • Working Papers
        • RSIS Publications for the Year
      • Glossary of Abbreviations
      • External Publications
        • Authored Books
        • Journal Articles
        • Edited Books
        • Chapters in Edited Books
        • Policy Reports
        • Working Papers
        • Op-Eds
        • External Publications for the Year
      • Policy-relevant Articles Given RSIS Award
  • Media
      • COVID-19 Resources
      • Cohesive Societies
      • Great Powers
      • Sustainable Security
      • Other Resource Pages
      • Media Highlights
      • News Releases
      • Speeches
      • Vidcast Channel
      • Audio/Video Forums
  • Events
  • Giving
  • Contact Us
  • instagram instagram rsis.sg
Connect

Getting to RSIS

Map

Address

Nanyang Technological University
Block S4, Level B3,
50 Nanyang Avenue,
Singapore 639798

View location on Google maps Click here for directions to RSIS

Get in Touch

    Connect with Us

      rsis.ntu
      rsis_ntu
      rsisntu
    RSISVideoCast RSISVideoCast rsisvideocast
      school/rsis-ntu
    instagram instagram rsis.sg
      RSS
    Subscribe to RSIS Publications
    Subscribe to RSIS Events

    RSIS Intranet

    S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies Think Tank and Graduate School Ponder The Improbable Since 1966
    Nanyang Technological University Nanyang Technological University

    Skip to content

     
    • RSIS
    • Publication
    • RSIS Publications
    • CO13131 | A Haze-Free ASEAN: Will the Vision Go Up in Smoke?
    • Annual Reviews
    • Books
    • Bulletins and Newsletters
    • Commentaries
    • Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses
    • Commemorative / Event Reports
    • IDSS Paper
    • Interreligious Relations
    • Monographs
    • NTS Insight
    • Policy Reports
    • Working Papers
    • RSIS Publications for the Year

    CO13131 | A Haze-Free ASEAN: Will the Vision Go Up in Smoke?
    Yang Razali Kassim

    16 July 2013

    download pdf
    RSIS Commentary is a platform to provide timely and, where appropriate, policy-relevant commentary and analysis of topical and contemporary issues. The authors’ views are their own and do not represent the official position of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, NTU. These commentaries may be reproduced with prior permission from RSIS and due recognition to the author(s) and RSIS. Please email to Mr Yang Razali Kassim, Editor RSIS Commentary at [email protected]

    Synopsis

    ASEAN ministers meet in Kuala Lumpur this week for urgent talks to tackle the latest haze problem in Indonesia that has choked neighbouring countries. Concrete plans must be made to work to prevent the vision of a haze-free ASEAN going up in smoke.

    Commentary

    THIS WEEK’S ASEAN meeting to tackle the haze problem has a huge responsibility on its hands. While its immediate challenge is the recent thick smog from Indonesia’s Riau province that choked neighbouring countries, its significance is far greater than this.

    Known officially as the 15th Meeting of the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee (MSC) on the Transboundary Haze Pollution, its role seems limited in scope. But the ASEAN pact that gives it purpose is not trivial. Known as the 2002 ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, it has global import. According to the ASEAN Secretariat, this is the first regional arrangement in the world that binds a group of contiguous states to tackle transboundary haze pollution arising from land and forest fires. Indeed, it is a “global role model” for the tackling of transboundary issues.

    Big plans, small progress

    Given the regional tensions triggered by the recent haze problem, ASEAN’s vision of a haze-free region is obviously still far away. Yet ASEAN has a haze masterplan that is well-developed – harking back to the 1980s. Obviously, the problem is not lack of ideas and plans. An historical analysis of the haze issue will show how competent ASEAN has been in identifying the problem and mapping out a strategy.

    First, a point that many may not realise: forest fires have been a feature of Southeast Asia’s ecology since the Great Ice Age. More recently, recurring climate disturbances made wide areas of the region prone to large-scale wildfires. Indeed, the land and forest fires that hit the ASEAN region in 1997-1998 had been so severe that the United Nations labelled it “the most damaging in recorded history”. Fires in peat soils have been a major contributor to the haze, and Indonesia has about 70 percent of the region’s peatlands.

    Apart from climatic factors, the haze phenomenon is the result of rapid demographic changes and increased human activity. According to the Secretariat’s ASEAN Haze Action Online, the “pernicious practice of burning forests to clear land for commercial purposes and the extraordinarily dry weather combined to produce a pall of catastrophic proportions”. More than nine millions hectares of land were burnt, 6.5 million of which were forested areas.

    Reflecting how old the issue is, there were reports as far back as the 1970s of haze blanketing Singapore skies, even hailstones. In June 1995, the regional grouping came up with an ASEAN Cooperation on Transboundary Pollution, which led to a Regional Haze Action Plan (RHAP). This plan set out collaborative measures among member states, with a three-fold objective: to prevent land and forest fires through better enforcement; to mitigate fires by strengthening regional fire-fighting capabilities; and to establish monitoring mechanisms on land and forest fires.

    Different countries were assigned to spearhead each prong – Malaysia on prevention, Indonesia on mitigation and Singapore on monitoring. The centrepiece of the RHAP monitoring is the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC). Based in Singapore, the ASMC plays a leading role in long-range climate forecasting, early warning activities, and detection and monitoring of fires and haze. The RHAP also formed the ASEAN Coordinating Centre (ACC) for Transboundary Haze Pollution Control.

    Member states in the sub-region – Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore as well as Brunei and Thailand – undertake national-level actions relating to the three prongs of prevention, mitigation and monitoring. Implementation of the action plan at the sub-regional and regional levels serves to complement these initiatives at the national level.

    Implementation issues

    Significantly, the previous sub-regional meeting – the 14th Meeting of the Sub-Regional MSC on Transboundary Haze Pollution – took place just eight months ago in Bali. This was seven months before the latest outbreak of the haze problem which at one point in June reached 401 on Singapore’s Pollutant Standards Index (PSI). The Bali meeting reaffirmed the role of the ASMC and called for the use of technology to enhance hotspot monitoring, including the “critical role of digital geo-referenced concession maps in efforts to hold plantation companies and land owners responsible”.

    The ministers also agreed that member states undertake more deterrent and effective enforcement measures against offenders. At the same time, they agreed on the formation of an MSC Technical Task Force (MTTF) to develop a fire monitoring platform at the MSC level.

    In the run-up to this week’s MSC meeting, Singapore said it would seek several concrete outcomes, including Indonesia’s urgent push to provide official and accurate land concession maps that would be crucial for nailing down errant companies.

    Without these maps, Singapore’s environment and water resources minister Vivian Balakrishnan was reported as saying, “it’s very difficult for me to point fingers…authoritatively, bearing in mind that these activities occur in another sovereign land”. Singapore also wanted a clear launch-date of the sub-regional haze monitoring system which is necessary to identify plantation companies that might have contributed to the peatland fires in Riau that led to the recent haze alarm.

    Lack of plans, or lack of funds?

    ASEAN clearly is not short of ideas, plans or strategies. Indonesia, the epicentre of the fires, too has well-laid plans to counter the haze problem. In fact, even before the latest episode, the 14th MSC noted, Jakarta had budgeted up to IDR 127 billion (about US$12 million) for addressing land and forest fire issues at all levels. While this certainly underscored Indonesia’s commitment to tackle the haze problem, it is not certain whether the money is enough, given the scale of the problem.

    According to those familiar with the issue in ASEAN, the basic problem is three-fold: funding, implementation and sustainability at the provincial level. With no financial incentives, local authorities “just muddle along”. Another reason is the difficulty of coordination across a huge area in Sumatra. “Each municipality or provincial authority will do something, but they cannot synchronise public education and civic action in a sustainable way,” a former senior ASEAN official told RSIS Commentaries. In the end, he said, it is sustainability. Without sustainability, will the vision of a haze-free ASEAN go up in smoke?

    About the Author

    Yang Razali Kassim is Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University and the RSIS Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies. An earlier version appeared in The Straits Times.

    Categories: Commentaries / Non-Traditional Security

    Last updated on 17/09/2014

    RSIS Commentary is a platform to provide timely and, where appropriate, policy-relevant commentary and analysis of topical and contemporary issues. The authors’ views are their own and do not represent the official position of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, NTU. These commentaries may be reproduced with prior permission from RSIS and due recognition to the author(s) and RSIS. Please email to Mr Yang Razali Kassim, Editor RSIS Commentary at [email protected]

    Synopsis

    ASEAN ministers meet in Kuala Lumpur this week for urgent talks to tackle the latest haze problem in Indonesia that has choked neighbouring countries. Concrete plans must be made to work to prevent the vision of a haze-free ASEAN going up in smoke.

    Commentary

    THIS WEEK’S ASEAN meeting to tackle the haze problem has a huge responsibility on its hands. While its immediate challenge is the recent thick smog from Indonesia’s Riau province that choked neighbouring countries, its significance is far greater than this.

    Known officially as the 15th Meeting of the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee (MSC) on the Transboundary Haze Pollution, its role seems limited in scope. But the ASEAN pact that gives it purpose is not trivial. Known as the 2002 ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, it has global import. According to the ASEAN Secretariat, this is the first regional arrangement in the world that binds a group of contiguous states to tackle transboundary haze pollution arising from land and forest fires. Indeed, it is a “global role model” for the tackling of transboundary issues.

    Big plans, small progress

    Given the regional tensions triggered by the recent haze problem, ASEAN’s vision of a haze-free region is obviously still far away. Yet ASEAN has a haze masterplan that is well-developed – harking back to the 1980s. Obviously, the problem is not lack of ideas and plans. An historical analysis of the haze issue will show how competent ASEAN has been in identifying the problem and mapping out a strategy.

    First, a point that many may not realise: forest fires have been a feature of Southeast Asia’s ecology since the Great Ice Age. More recently, recurring climate disturbances made wide areas of the region prone to large-scale wildfires. Indeed, the land and forest fires that hit the ASEAN region in 1997-1998 had been so severe that the United Nations labelled it “the most damaging in recorded history”. Fires in peat soils have been a major contributor to the haze, and Indonesia has about 70 percent of the region’s peatlands.

    Apart from climatic factors, the haze phenomenon is the result of rapid demographic changes and increased human activity. According to the Secretariat’s ASEAN Haze Action Online, the “pernicious practice of burning forests to clear land for commercial purposes and the extraordinarily dry weather combined to produce a pall of catastrophic proportions”. More than nine millions hectares of land were burnt, 6.5 million of which were forested areas.

    Reflecting how old the issue is, there were reports as far back as the 1970s of haze blanketing Singapore skies, even hailstones. In June 1995, the regional grouping came up with an ASEAN Cooperation on Transboundary Pollution, which led to a Regional Haze Action Plan (RHAP). This plan set out collaborative measures among member states, with a three-fold objective: to prevent land and forest fires through better enforcement; to mitigate fires by strengthening regional fire-fighting capabilities; and to establish monitoring mechanisms on land and forest fires.

    Different countries were assigned to spearhead each prong – Malaysia on prevention, Indonesia on mitigation and Singapore on monitoring. The centrepiece of the RHAP monitoring is the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC). Based in Singapore, the ASMC plays a leading role in long-range climate forecasting, early warning activities, and detection and monitoring of fires and haze. The RHAP also formed the ASEAN Coordinating Centre (ACC) for Transboundary Haze Pollution Control.

    Member states in the sub-region – Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore as well as Brunei and Thailand – undertake national-level actions relating to the three prongs of prevention, mitigation and monitoring. Implementation of the action plan at the sub-regional and regional levels serves to complement these initiatives at the national level.

    Implementation issues

    Significantly, the previous sub-regional meeting – the 14th Meeting of the Sub-Regional MSC on Transboundary Haze Pollution – took place just eight months ago in Bali. This was seven months before the latest outbreak of the haze problem which at one point in June reached 401 on Singapore’s Pollutant Standards Index (PSI). The Bali meeting reaffirmed the role of the ASMC and called for the use of technology to enhance hotspot monitoring, including the “critical role of digital geo-referenced concession maps in efforts to hold plantation companies and land owners responsible”.

    The ministers also agreed that member states undertake more deterrent and effective enforcement measures against offenders. At the same time, they agreed on the formation of an MSC Technical Task Force (MTTF) to develop a fire monitoring platform at the MSC level.

    In the run-up to this week’s MSC meeting, Singapore said it would seek several concrete outcomes, including Indonesia’s urgent push to provide official and accurate land concession maps that would be crucial for nailing down errant companies.

    Without these maps, Singapore’s environment and water resources minister Vivian Balakrishnan was reported as saying, “it’s very difficult for me to point fingers…authoritatively, bearing in mind that these activities occur in another sovereign land”. Singapore also wanted a clear launch-date of the sub-regional haze monitoring system which is necessary to identify plantation companies that might have contributed to the peatland fires in Riau that led to the recent haze alarm.

    Lack of plans, or lack of funds?

    ASEAN clearly is not short of ideas, plans or strategies. Indonesia, the epicentre of the fires, too has well-laid plans to counter the haze problem. In fact, even before the latest episode, the 14th MSC noted, Jakarta had budgeted up to IDR 127 billion (about US$12 million) for addressing land and forest fire issues at all levels. While this certainly underscored Indonesia’s commitment to tackle the haze problem, it is not certain whether the money is enough, given the scale of the problem.

    According to those familiar with the issue in ASEAN, the basic problem is three-fold: funding, implementation and sustainability at the provincial level. With no financial incentives, local authorities “just muddle along”. Another reason is the difficulty of coordination across a huge area in Sumatra. “Each municipality or provincial authority will do something, but they cannot synchronise public education and civic action in a sustainable way,” a former senior ASEAN official told RSIS Commentaries. In the end, he said, it is sustainability. Without sustainability, will the vision of a haze-free ASEAN go up in smoke?

    About the Author

    Yang Razali Kassim is Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University and the RSIS Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies. An earlier version appeared in The Straits Times.

    Categories: Commentaries / Non-Traditional Security

    Last updated on 17/09/2014

    Back to top

    Terms of Use | Privacy Statement
    Copyright © S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. All rights reserved.
    This site uses cookies to offer you a better browsing experience. By continuing, you are agreeing to the use of cookies on your device as described in our privacy policy. Learn more
    OK
    Latest Book
    CO13131 | A Haze-Free ASEAN: Will the Vision Go Up in Smoke?

    Synopsis

    ASEAN ministers meet in Kuala Lumpur this week for urgent talks to tackle the latest haze problem in Indonesia that has ...
    more info