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ASEAN and transboundary haze pollution in Southeast Asia

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Abstract

In recent decades the countries of Southeast Asia have been affected by air pollution (commonly called haze) arising from the burning of vegetation by small holders, plantation owners and logging companies. This is done in order to clear or rejuvenate the land for cultivation and planting and can occur at particular times during the year, most noticeably in the periods March to May and August to October. The burning has resulted in widespread forest fires and has been particularly intense in years when the weather has been noticeably dry due to the effects of the El Nino phenomenon. By far the main source of forest fires caused by small holders and plantation owners has been Indonesia. The smoke from the forest fires has not only caused widespread air pollution in Indonesia itself but also in neighbouring countries, resulting in what is termed as transboundary air pollution. This has affected, amongst other things, public health, bio-diversity, tourism, air transport, and agricultural production. So serious have the effects been that the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were prompted from 1990 to collaborate in tackling the problem and to embark upon a series of joint initiatives for that purpose. After discussing the extent of forest burning in Indonesia, its causes and effects, the article will examine and assess the initiatives mentioned above, culminating in the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, which came into effect in November 2003. The paper will then examine a crucial impediment to the effective implementation of the initiatives: viz. the standards of governance and administration in Indonesia. In conclusion, the paper will consider the challenges to be overcome to enable the aims of the ASEAN initiatives to be realised, and also, by examining these initiatives, what conditions are necessary to ensure that international agreements affecting domestic policy and administration in signatory states, have a genuine impact and achieve their goals.

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Notes

  1. Kafil Yamin, ‘The Hazy, Lazy—Hands Off—Days of Summer,’ Asia Times, 31 July 2001; M. Ara Syaf, ‘Fires Destroy Plantations, Forests in Riau,’ The Jakarta Post, 27 February 2002; ‘Forest Fires Continued as Drought Extends,’ The Jakarta Post, 23 July 2002; Fitri Wulandri, ‘Reckless Farming in Peatland Forests a Major Cause of Fires’, The Jakarta Post, 25 August 2002; Moch. Kurniawan, ‘Government Warns of More Forest Fires,’ The Jakarta Post, 29 May 2003; World Bank, Indonesia: Environment and National Resource Management in a Time of Transition, Washington; Author, 2001, p. 7; ASEAN Haze Action Online, Fires in Southeast Asia, 24, 25, 26, 31 March 2004, Singapore: ASEAN Secretariat, 2004: Available at http://www.haze-online.or.id/news.php; Robert Go, ‘Indonesians Pay Heavy Price for Illegal Fires,’ Straits Times, 24 June 2004.

  2. Asian Development Bank, Final Report: Planning for Fire Prevention and Drought Management Project in Indonesia, Manila: Author, 1999, p. xiv.

  3. World Bank, Indonesia: Environment and National Resource Management in a Time of Transition, Washington; Author, 2001, p. 7.

  4. Ibid., pp. 15–17.

  5. Ibid., pp.15–17; Wulandri, ‘Reckless Farming in Peatland Forests a Major Cause of Fires,’.

  6. World Bank, ibid., pp. 15–17; Friends of the Earth, Indonesian Forest Fires, London: Author, 2002: Available at http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/; Wulandri, ‘Reckless Farming in Peatland Forests a Major Cause of Fires’; Editorial, ‘Hazy Problem,’ The Jakarta Post, 13 August 1997.

  7. World Bank, Indonesia: Environment and National Resource Management in a Time of Transition, pp. 15–17; Moch. Kurniawan, ‘Stop Converting Forest into Plantation,’ The Jakarta Post, 28 February 2003; Wulandri, ‘Reckless Farming in Peatland Forests a Major Cause of Fires’; ‘Spread of Oil Plantations Fuels Fires,’ Far Eastern Economic Review, 2 October, 1997.

  8. World Bank, Indonesia: Environment and National Resource Management in a Time of Transition, pp. 16–17; World Conservation Union and WWF, A Review of Legal, Regulatory and Institutional Aspects of Forest and Land Fires in Indonesia, Jakarta: Project FireFight South East Asia, 2002, p. 1 (World Conservation Union hereafter cited as IUCN).

  9. Bambang Bider and Edi Patebang, ‘Government Accused of Inaction on Forest Fires’, The Jakarta Post, 24 August 2002; ‘Government Tells Locals to Help Put Out Fires,’ The Jakarta Post. 7 June 2002; Kurniawan, ‘Stop Converting Forest into Plantation’.

  10. World Bank, Indonesia: Environment and National Resource Management in a Time of Transition, p. 13.

  11. Friends of the Earth, Indonesian Forest Fires; NGO’s Network for Forest Conservation, ‘Smoke from Forest Fires and its Threat to Human Health,’ The Jakarta Post, 31 August 2002.

  12. Moch. Kurniawan, ‘Govt Ignored Warning, Fires to Continue,’ The Jakarta Post, 31 August, 2002.

  13. Robert Go, ‘Indonesians Pay Heavy Price for Illegal Fires’.

  14. Kurniawan, ‘Stop Converting Forest into Plantation’.

  15. Friends of the Earth, Indonesian Forest Fires; World Bank, Indonesia: Environment and National Resource Management in a Time of Transition, pp. 32–47; International Primate Protection League, Indonesia Burning, Summerville, USA: Author, 1998. Available at http://www.ippl.org/indonesia.html; Asian Development Bank, Final Report: Planning for Fire Prevention and Drought Management Project in Indonesia, p. xvi.

  16. Johann G. Goldammer, ‘The Role of Fire on Greenhouse Gas and Aerosol Emissions and Land Use and Cover Change in Southeast Asia: Ecological Background and Research Needs,’ Paper given to International Conference on Science and Technology for the Assessment of Global Environmental Change and its Impacts on the Indonesian Maritime Continent, Jakarta, Indonesia, 10–12 November 1997.

  17. Euston Quah and Douglas Johnston, ‘Fires and Haze: Singapore’s Costs and Responsibilities’ in Linda low and Douglas Johnston eds., Singapore Inc: Public Policy Options in the Third Millennium Singapore: Asia Pacific , 2001, pp. 164–165.

  18. Asian Development Bank, Final Report: Planning for Fire Prevention and Drought Management Project in Indonesia, pp. xviii–xix.

  19. IUCN and WWF, A Review of Legal, Regulatory and Institutional Aspects of Forest and Land Fires in Indonesia, Jakarta: Project FireFight South East Asia, 2002, pp. 2–4; James Cotton, ‘The “Haze” over Southeast Asia: Challenging the ASEAN Mode of Regional Engagement,’ Pacific Affairs: An International Review of Asia and the Pacific, vol. 72 (3), 1999, pp. 342–343.

  20. ASEAN, ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution, Singapore: ASEAN Secretariat, 1995: Available at http://www.asean.org.

  21. Cotton, ‘The “Haze” over Southeast Asia: Challenging the ASEAN Mode of Regional Engagement,’ pp. 342–344.

  22. ASEAN, Regional Haze Action Plan, Singapore: ASEAN Secretariat, 1997: Available at http://www.asean.org.

  23. ASEAN Haze Action Online, Highlights of ASEAN’s Recent and Ongoing Initiatives on Transboundary Haze Pollution, Singapore: ASEAN Secretariat, 2002: Available at http://www.haze-online.or.id/help.

  24. Ibid.

  25. For a critical assessment of the Regional Haze Action Plan, see Alan Boyd, ‘ASEAN Haze Pact: Nothing But Smoke,’ Asia Times, 29 August 2002.

  26. ASEAN, ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, Singapore: ASEAN Secretariat, 2002.

  27. 11th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Haze, 10 November 2004, Ha Noi, Viet Nam: Joint Press Release: Available at http://www.asean.or.id.

  28. Ibid.

  29. See especially, ibid, articles 12, 13.

  30. See http://www.haze-online.or.id; 11th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Haze, 10 November 2004, Ha Noi, Viet Nam: Joint Press Release: available at http://www.asean.or.id.

  31. Azlan Othman, ‘Asean Controls on Haze in November,’ Borneo Bulletin, 27 September 2003; Environmental Data Interactive Exchange (EDIE) ‘UNEP Hails ASEAN Haze Pollution Agreement’, The Jakarta Post, 1 December 2003; ‘UNEP Praises ASEAN Agreement as Model for the World, ’ Edie Weekly Summaries, 28 November 2003: Available at http://www.edie.net/news.

  32. Kurniawan, ‘Govt Ignored Warning Fires, Fires to Continue’; Bider and Patebang, ‘Government Accused of Inaction on Forest Fires’; T.S. Elang, ‘Its Haze, It’s Weak Government,’ Indonesia Jaringan Informasi Politisi, 3 June 2003: Available at http://www.politikindonesia.com.

  33. David Jardine, ‘Government Needs to Act on Fires’, The Jakarta Post, 27 August 2002.

  34. Robert Go, ‘Minister Admits Jakarta Unable to Curb Forest Fires,’ Straits Times, 13 June 2002.

  35. IUCN and WWF, A Review of Legal, Regulatory and Institutional Aspects of Forest and Land Fires in Indonesia, pp. 7–9.

  36. Ibid. pp. 12–34.

  37. Ibid., pp. 10, 38, 41–42.

  38. Go, ‘Minister Admits Jakarta Unable to Curb Forest Fires’; Asian Development Bank, Final Report: Planning for Fire Prevention and Drought Management Project in Indonesia, pp. xx–xxi.

  39. IUCN and WWF, A Review of Legal, Regulatory and Institutional Aspects of Forest and Land Fires in Indonesia, p. 9.

  40. Ibid., p. 38.

  41. Ibid., pp. 39–40; World Bank, Indonesia: Environment and National Resource Management in a Time of Transition, pp. 103–107: Asian Development Bank, Final Report: Planning for Fire Prevention and Drought Management Project in Indonesia, pp. xx–xxi.

  42. Go, ‘Minister Admits Jakarta Unable to Curb Forest Fires’.

  43. Ibid.

  44. IUCN and WWF, A Review of Legal, Regulatory and Institutional Aspects of Forest and Land Fires in Indonesia, pp. 39–40; Quah and Johnston, ‘Fires and Haze: Singapore’s Costs and Responsibilities,’ pp. 160, 166.

  45. ‘Plantation Pays $1.1 Million Fine for Burning Land,’ The Jakarta Post, 1 May 2003.

  46. IUCN and WWF, A Review of Legal, Regulatory and Institutional Aspects of Forest and Land Fires in Indonesia, p. 10.

  47. Haidir Anwar Tanjung, ‘Malaysian Businessman Sentenced for Plantation Fires,’ The Jakarta Post, 31 August 2002; ‘Plantation Pays $1.1 Million Fine for Burning Land,’ The Jakarta Post, 1 May 2003.

  48. Go, ‘Indonesians Pay Heavy Price for Illegal Fires.’

  49. Robert Go, ‘Activists Sue Forest-fire Offenders,’ Straits Times, 14 June 2003; ‘Walhi Plans to Sue 20 Firms over Forest Fires,’ The Jakarta Post, 13 June 2003.

  50. ‘Walhi Plans to Sue 20 Firms over Forest Fires’; Haidir Anwar Tanjung, ‘Wahli Sues Governor for Neglecting Forest Fires,’ The Jakarta Post, 26 June 2003.

  51. Go, ‘Activists Sue Forest-fire Offenders’.

  52. Go, ‘Indonesians Pay Heavy Price for Illegal Fires’.

  53. Go ibid.; World Bank, Controlling Corruption in Indonesia: Enhancing Accountability for Development, Washington: Author, 2003, pp. 57, 59, 70–76; World Bank, Indonesia: Environment and National Resource Management in a Time of Transition, p. 9; Choong Tet Sieu, ‘The Reckless Torching of Indonesia’s Forest Lands,’ Asiaweek, 10 October 1997. For references and measures of the endemic problem of corruption in Indonesia, see Jon Quah, Curbing Corruption in Asia: A Comparative Study of Six Countries, Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, 2003, pp. 11–12, 187–189; Transparency International, Transparency International, Corruption Perception Index, 1995–2002: Available at http:// www.transparency.org; World Bank, WBI Themes: Governance, Washington: Author, 2004: Available at http://info.worldbank.org/governance/kkz2002/

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  1. Department of Public Policy and Administration, Faculty of Business, Economics and Policy Studies, University of Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong, Brunei Darussalam, BE 1410

    David Seth Jones

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Correspondence to David Seth Jones.

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This article is an updated and amended version of an earlier article by the author entitled ‘ASEAN Initiatives to Combat Haze Pollution: An Assessment of Regional Cooperation in Public Policy-Making’, Asian Journal of Political Science, vol. 12, no.2 (December 2004):59–77.

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Jones, D.S. ASEAN and transboundary haze pollution in Southeast Asia. AEJ 4, 431–446 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-006-0067-1

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