| Azlan Othman |

BRUNEI Darussalam is finalising the Open Burning Regulations under the Environmental Protection and Management Order 2016, in response to the issue of rampant open burning in the country. A culture of burning green waste in the open still persists among Bruneians, which can often lead to uncontrollable bush and forest fires.

Under the new rules, fines will be imposed on those found carrying out open burning as a deterrent to the irresponsible and potentially dangerous activity.

Acting Director at the Department of Environment, Parks and Recreation (JASTRe) of the Ministry of Development Martinah Haji Tamit said this at the opening of the 21st Meeting of the Technical Working Group on Transboundary Haze Pollution (21st TWG) yesterday.

Senior officers from Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand as well as the Asean Secretariat attended.

Martinah added, “Brunei Darussalam is blessed with clean air with a recorded 99 per cent of good PSI readings and one per cent (or four days) of moderate readings between June 2018 and July 2019. The air quality was slightly affected by the smoke haze from neighbouring hotspot activities, particularly on the Western part of Borneo, in the months of July, August and September last year. “

The PSI readings recorded were slightly higher than normal; escalating to moderate levels. For Brunei, March 2019 saw a particularly dry spell towards the final phase of the Northeast monsoon period, with only 58.9mm of rainfall recorded, a massive drop from the 130mm climate average for March.

Martinah said between January and the middle of March, 461 bush and forest fires were reported with almost a hundred fire and rescue personnel deployed to douse the fires. In mid-April 2019, a massive forest fire spanning over 100 hectares occurred at the Sarawak-Brunei border in the Kuala Baram, Belait District.

Both Brunei and Sarawak’s Fire and Rescue Departments worked together in managing the fire. Various local agencies – such as the JASTRe, National Disaster Management Centre and the Fire and Rescue Department – work hand-in-hand to address any social, security and health issues arising from fires and haze.

Brunei will continue to remain vigilant and focus its efforts, together with all member states, to enhance the monitoring and preventive measures to deal with any fire and haze situation.

Martinah added, “As chair of the 21st TWG Meeting on Transboundary Haze Pollution, I urge all my fellow colleagues and friends to work together in the spirit of the ‘ASEAN Way’ and solidarity to achieve a concrete outcome and agreement to be reported to our ministers during the Ministerial Steering Committee (which is scheduled for today).

The Ministry of Development, through JASTRe, hosted yesterday’s meeting, which was attended by representatives responsible for the environment (including forest fires, land and haze) among five countries across the southern ASEAN region namely Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as well as representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) and local authorities – namely the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC), Fire and Rescue Department, Brunei Darussalam Meteorological Department, Forestry Department and Heart of Borneo.

The TWG meeting was held to review and share the latest developments in regional cooperation related to haze issues in addressing transboundary haze in the region.

During the meeting, ASEAN member states discussed, among other issues, the latest developments in national and regional activities on the implementation of the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (AATHP) focusing on mitigation measures and reduction, as well as actions needed locally and regionally to address the issue of transboundary haze pollution.

The meeting also discussed research and monitoring outcomes on the weather and haze conditions for the ASEAN region from ASMC. The ASEAN Secretariat also highlighted the cooperation with international partners, especially in the implementation of the ASEAN Programme on Peatland Management.

Updates on the Roadmap of ASEAN Cooperation towards Tranboundary Haze Pollution with means of implementation were also shared. This is the strategic framework for joint action to control/solve the issue of transboundary haze pollution in the ASEAN region to achieve the vision of a Transboundary Haze-Free ASEAN by 2020, which was presented by the ASEAN Secretariat.