Difficult meeting that took place under the cloud of possibly even worse transboundary haze this year. The haze began much earlier due to the unusual dry weather from January to March. There is a higher probability of this being an El Niño year, with even drier weather in the months ahead. We welcomed Indonesias commitment to expedite ratification of the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. We renewed our offers of assistance and made some progress in finalizing the MOU on collaboration with Jambi. The key sticking point was the unwillingness of some governments to share relevant land use and concession maps. This is an obstacle to full operationalisation of the Haze Monitoring System. Frankly, I am disappointed with the lack of transparency. Nevertheless, we have to find a way forward so that errant companies know that governments will exchange information and collaborate to take enforcement action. I shared our draft bill on Transboundary Haze with our Indonesian counterparts. I have also asked for the names of companies, and the evidence to be shared with us so that we can take appropriate action against the culprits. This will be a long journey.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 08:14:52 +0000