Malaysian Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Arthur Joseph Kurup said on October 6 as host of the 28th Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee (MSC) Meeting in 2027, Malaysia would use its chairmanship to translate the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (AATHP) into concrete action by enhancing data sharing, improving law enforcement and cross-border cooperation.
Under the cooperation, parties will exchange information on the PM2.5 situation and provide updates on technologies and measures to cope with the pollutants.
Thailand’s Pollution Control Department (PCD) has warned the rising concentration of PM2.5 pollutants is caused by poor air circulation in many areas of the capital while advising Bangkok residents to work from home to avoid the worst of the air pollution.
Indonesian officials have confirmed that air quality in areas experiencing forest and peatland fires in many localities of the country has improved over the past week.
Parts of the upper northern and northeastern areas of Thailand remained cloaked in hazardous levels of smoke haze on March 28 with the worst pollution still in Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district.
Indonesia has started cloud seeding to induce rain as the archipelago moves to head off annual forest fires blamed for blanketing swathes of Southeast Asia in toxic haze.
Thailand is planning to seek cooperation from Myanmar and Laos to support the fight against haze and smog pollution amidst many forest fires detected in its northern and northeastern mountainous areas.
An airport on Sumatra island and schools in some provinces of Indonesia were forced to close on September 13 by smoke from forest fires in the country.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has requested utmost efforts to extinguish widespread forest fires in the country, warning that officials would be sacked if they fail.
Malaysia’s sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin has urged the Indonesian government to ensure that haze from raging forest fires will not affect the 29th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 29) which will take place in Malaysia next week.
Indonesia has assured that there will be no transboundary haze problems plaguing Southeast Asia’s skyline this year, said Indonesian Environment and Forestry Ministry advisor Arief Yuwono.
Indonesia on September 12 deployed 3,500 soldiers, police and firefighters, two helicopters and one plane to combat forest fires as the number of hotspots increased to 351.
Haze of black smokes from forest and bush fires have caused visibility problems in Riau in the past two days, especially in the morning, the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency said.
Singapore’s Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli asked for more efforts to be made to completely eliminate the haze problems though fewer fire hotspots were recorded in Indonesia.
Many places across Malaysia are witnessing rising air pollution levels as the southwest monsoon winds blow smoke from land and forest fires in Sumatra, Indonesia, northward.
