Delegates at the 24th Meeting of the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC 24), Singapore, June 8, 2023 (Photo: asean.org)Jakarta (VNA) –The 24th Meeting of the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committeeon Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC 24) was held in Singapore on June 8.
The meeting was attended by ministers and officials from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. The 24thMeeting of the Technical Working Group on Transboundary Haze Pollution (TWG 24) was organised prior to MSC 24.
According to the ASEANSpecialised Meteorological Centre's (ASMC) weather and smoke haze review, hotspotcounts detected in the first five months of this year were around 16% lowerthan the same period last year for the southern ASEAN region.
Based on current climate models, ASMC forecast a70-80% chance for El Niño conditions to develop between June to September 2023and for a positive Indian Ocean Dipole to develop between June and July 2023.Both these climate phenomena would likely result in below normal rainfall formany parts of the southern ASEAN region in the next few months.
MSC 24 noted that the dry season this year couldbe more prolonged and intense compared to the past three years and risk ofelevated hotspot activities and transboundary smoke haze occurrence was thehighest since 2019.
The MSC countries pledged to stay vigilant andintensify their fires monitoring and haze preventive efforts to minimise theoccurrence of transboundary smoke haze during drier periods.
They reaffirmed their readiness to provide assistancesuch as deployment of technical resources for firefighting assistance onemergency response situation to mitigateland and forest fires.
The meeting expressed appreciation and commended the various initiativesand actions by the MSC countries on the implementation of the Strategic Review ofthe Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee Programmes and Activities whichincludes enhancing haze control management through early warning, monitoringand fire prevention; buildingcapabilities for fire suppression at the local, national and regional levels; bilateralcollaboration in line with the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution(AATHP); and capacity building of ASEAN member states under the Regional HazeTraining Network.
MSC 24 reaffirmed its commitment towards the fulland effective implementation of the AATHP and looked forward to thefinalisation of the new Roadmap on ASEAN Cooperation towards Transboundary HazePollution Control with Means of Implementation (Haze-free Roadmap) 2023-2030and the new ASEAN Peatland Management Strategy (APMS) 2023-2030 to furtherstrengthening, intensifying, and comprehensively addressing the root causes oftransboundary haze pollution and pursue the overall context of sustainabledevelopment for the region.
The meeting stressed the need topursue the finalisation of the Establishment Agreement of the ASEANCoordinating Centre for Transboundary Haze Pollution Control (ACC THPC) in Indonesiaand resume cooperation with internal and external parties to facilitate betterprevention, monitoring, preparedness and response to the land and forest firesthrough strengthened local, national and regional cooperation framework./.
