Anti-haze Bill 'to be tabled later this year'

It will go through a second round of consultation, says Balakrishnan
By Zakir Hussain, The Straits Times, 6 May 2014

A BILL that penalises those responsible for causing transboundary haze will be tabled in Parliament by the second half of this year, Singapore's Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said.

A draft of the proposed Transboundary Haze Pollution Bill was published in February for public consultation, and Dr Balakrishnan told The Straits Times in an interview yesterday that he wanted another round of consultations with those who had made suggestions.

"There's been some very good feedback. There are some changes I want to consider and another round of discussion with the people who have proposed changes."

Post by Vivian Balakrishnan.

Dr Balakrishnan made the comments after he spoke at the two-day Forests Asia Summit in Jakarta, where he told some 2,000 participants, including several environment ministers, the root of problems like the haze was "misaligned commercial interests".

The summit, organised by the Bogor-based Centre for International Forestry Research and Indonesia's Forestry Ministry, comes as countries try to reach a binding global pact on mitigating the impact of climate change next year. 

Dr Balakrishnan is also concerned about haze returning in the coming months, especially after scientists warned that this could be an El Nino year, with extremely high temperatures and drought in this part of the world.

At fault, he said, were companies that burned forests for short-term profits in a process he called "industrial-scale deforestation at an unprecedented level".

"The majority of the victims are Indonesians themselves, millions living in Riau, Sumatra, who are far more adversely affected than us," he said.

"We are in this together and need to work together, collaborate, and in the interests of transparency, share results of investigations and where relevant pursue prosecutorial actions," he added.

Dr Balakrishnan said he made these points in his speech and in talks with Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan because he did not want the impending extraterritorial legislation to be misunderstood.

"We are under no illusions - we can pass all the laws we like, but to get evidence, to secure conviction, requires investigation, requires a sharing of information at source," he said.

According to the draft legislation, firms that have fires on land they own or manage that cause haze over Singapore can be deemed to have committed an offence, and fined up to $300,000.

Those affected by the haze can also take up civil suits against these companies, whose representatives could be served notice when they enter Singapore. 

The proposed law comes after Singapore - and South-east Asia - experienced record levels of pollution caused by forest fires in Riau last June. These were put out only after Indonesia launched a concerted firefighting effort. 

In the wake of that episode, Asean leaders approved a joint haze monitoring system, a database that makes use of land concession maps, hot spot data and satellite images to identify land owners responsible for burning. 

Dr Balakrishnan said he hoped Indonesia would help to populate the database with maps, to send a clear signal to errant companies. 

He also said he was convinced that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was "trying to do the right thing", citing his decisive action in Riau to oversee efforts to fight the haze in March.

Zero tolerance for illegal land burning, vows Yudhoyono
By Zubaidah Nazeer, The Straits Times, 6 May 2014

ABOUT a dozen companies and more than 100 people are facing trial for illegal land burning, said Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who made clear such acts would not be tolerated.

Even though annual deforestation rates have been slashed from 1.2 million ha to as low as 450,000ha since a forest moratorium was issued in 2011 and extended last year, Dr Yudhoyono says more remains to be done.

"There are still many cases of unsustainable land-use practices," he told some 2,000 people at the Forests Asia Summit here.

"In Riau province, Sumatra, despite all preventive measures by the provincial stakeholders over the years, forest fires still occur from time to time," he added.

More than two-thirds of the country's greenhouse gas emissions come from deforestation, peat land fires and degradation.

As Indonesia is the world's third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, its efforts to reduce emissions are closely watched.

While Dr Yudhoyono is the first Indonesian leader to commit to wide-ranging measures to battle deforestation and to policies to protect the environment, his report card has been mixed.

Critics cite weak implementation of policies in a graft-tainted sector. Also, with only half a year left of Dr Yudhoyono's term, many wonder whether the next president will carry on the measures.

A key problem is the country's decentralisation policy, which has created "new rajas" at provincial and district levels who often demand more money from companies before they will release land for development, said Sinar Mas Forestry executive director for environment Canecio Munoz.

A Human Rights Watch report last June estimated losses of US$7 billion (S$8.7 billion) from weak governance caused by graft, and from activities like illegal logging.

Another sticking point has to do with unclear land tenure, which pits local communities living in the forests against investors given licences to develop the land.

The total amount of conflict area reached some 330,000ha in 2011, says conflict management researcher Ahmad Dhiaulhaq of the Centre for People and Forests. "These conflicts undermine efforts to fight fires," he told The Straits Times.

Fires are sometimes used as a tool to express frustration or to stake a claim.

Agreeing, presidential adviser on climate change Agus Purnomo believes law enforcement must be combined with poverty alleviation measures in order for the anti-deforestation war to be effective.

Still, there are bright spots. Four billion trees have been planted in the last four years to revive forests, Dr Yudhoyono said at the summit.

Echoing forest campaigners' concerns, Mr Agus said: "The point is, are we going to start addressing the problem in the next government or not?"