Haze primarily affects Indonesia

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 05/21/2007 8:07 AM  |  Opinion

Simon Tay, Jakarta

Dark clouds are gathering as the dry season begins in Indonesia. Prospects increase that fires and haze will again return to plague the region later this year. This alarming prediction is the consensus among experts, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and officials that emerged at a recent workshop in Jakarta.

This likely recurrence of the fires and haze is disconcerting. The problem has persisted for more than a decade and ASEAN's Agreement on the Transboundary is now in force. Indonesia's President, Susilo Bambang Yudoyono, has apologized and promised action to address the problem. While the dry season is a natural factor, analysts agree that human action, corporations and government policy in land clearing are factors that can be controlled.

Does the predicted haze mean nothing has been done? Does Indonesia still lack the political will to deal with the problem? Are there potential solutions ahead? There are conflicting signals from the workshop, organized by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs with two Indonesian partners -- the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the World Wide Fund (WWF) Indonesia.

Some sectors in Indonesia signal that the government will not ratify the Haze Agreement. At the workshop, a speech from the Indonesian Minister of Forestry asked for regional assistance on illegal logging in consideration for supporting the Haze Agreement.

Additionally, some Indonesian Members of Parliament (MPs) wish to make it a precondition that Singapore and Malaysia help not only on illegal logging but also in other areas like anti-corruption and extradition, for which a treaty has now been concluded with Singapore.

While these claims have been loudest, the recent workshop notably gave space to other voices from Indonesia. All the non governmental organizations (NGOs) present, including Walhi, the umbrella environmental group and WWF-Indonesia, wish to address the haze issue.

Similarly, local and provincial officials working in the fire-prone regions of Riau and Kalimantan detailed their efforts to prevent the fires, and to speedily put them out if and when they start.

The Indonesian Ministry for the Environment has taken a similar view. The Ministry has initiated and supported the process for the ASEAN Haze Agreement to be approved by Indonesia. At the workshop, its officials gave their assurance that Indonesia would do its best under its national plan to deliver on President Susilo's promise, whether with or without the Agreement.

These views among NGOs, local officials and the Ministry for the Environment give some cause for optimism about efforts to address the firs and haze -- in contrast to the statements by the Minister for Forestry and some MPs.

What accounts for these different views? Some differences must of course be expected, given the democracy and decentralization that become the established norms in this vast and diverse archipelago.

But an important factor is the increasing recognition that the fire and haze primarily affect Indonesia, and are therefore issues that the country must address for its own good and those of its citizens. The effects on neighboring states are, in this perspective, important but secondary.

The negative impacts of the fires and haze on Indonesia's public health and economy are well documented and are estimated to run in billions of dollars. But even more than these estimates, the attitude of the NGOs and local officials is based on their real life experiences, close to the ground.

NGOs which attended the workshop, like WALHI and WWF-Indonesia, have projects in fire prone areas and work directly with the Indonesian citizens of these provinces who are victims of the fires and the thickest haze. Similarly, local officials in these fire prone areas, see the catastrophe up close, and wish to stop further damage. In contrast, some policy makers who sit in Jakarta know little or nothing of the haze as a first hand problem.

As for illegal logging, many of the environmental NGOs do wish to address the problem. However, at the workshop, they reiterated that the evidence shows that there is no strong link between the fires and illegal logging. By the admission of even the Ministry of Forestry, less than one quarter of the fires occur in forest areas. The majority occurs on plantation lands, and the worst are in peatland areas.

One area of difference and contention remains the identity of the primary culprits. The Indonesian NGOs allege that the fires and haze stem mainly from lands owned by some of the large plantation companies. Others -- including some officials and especially corporate spokesmen -- put the blame on the small scale, traditional farmers.

Another area of difference remains what can be done to address the issue. It is possible that with local officials, NGOs and the Ministry for the Environment pushing, momentum can gather for Indonesia to redouble its efforts and also ratify the Haze Agreement. But even supporters of the Agreement acknowledge that while it is an important marker and useful mechanism, it is no panacea.

Regional support will be needed. Singapore, Malaysia and other neighbors have agreed under the ASEAN agreement to put seed money into the Haze Control Fund. The presence of Singaporean and Malaysian NGOs at the workshop alongside their Indonesian counterparts showed the support for such cooperation, at a people to people level. Hopefully governments will follow suit to increase cooperation. This seed of cooperation and support must be grown, as Indonesia starts to put its anti-haze plans into action and needs more resources.

Indonesians and others at the workshop identified more ways forward. One of them will be link efforts to retain and replant forests and the conservation of peatlands, which are the worst emitters of haze. Such projects would address not just the regional haze but also climate change concerns at the global level. An opportunity to link with climate change is arising as Indonesia will host the conference of parties meeting of the Kyoto Protocol at end 2007.

Efforts to encourage Indonesia to address the haze must continue, and new initiatives must be explored and pursued, even as we should steel ourselves for another season of burnt earth and grey skies.

The writer is chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, a non government think tank. The SIIA co-chaired a workshop in Jakarta on the ASEAN Haze Agreement with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the World Wide Fund (WWF) of Indonesia.

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