Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia has given Malaysian agencies official permission to enter its airspace to conduct cloud seeding operations, as part of both countries' efforts to combat the haze blanketing the region.
Malaysia's national disaster management agency and its meteorological department are currently preparing schedules for cloud seeding operations in shared border locations, Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Arthur Joseph Kurup said in a statement as reported by Channel News Asia.
Sarawak of Malaysia, which borders Indonesia's Kalimantan province on Borneo island, has been worst hit by the haze.
Six districts in Sarawak recorded unhealthy air pollution index (API) readings on August 24, according to data released by the environment department.
Unhealthy API levels were also recorded in eight other districts across four states on the Malaysian peninsula, the data showed.
In Indonesia, haze has blanketed large areas of Riau, Jambi and South Sumatra provinces as fires continue to burn amid prolonged dry weather. Authorities in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province, have ordered schools to switch to online learning to limit children’s exposure to the haze./.
Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore reaffirm commitment to safeguarding key straits
At the 17th Cooperation Forum held in Singapore on August 25, the three nations affirmed the status of the SOMS as straits used for international navigation – where the right of transit applies, as enshrined in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and reflected in customary international law.
