Singapore dialogue calls for more actions to hackle haze issue

Singapore dialogue calls for more actions to hackle haze issue

21 August 2007

published by www.indianmuslims.info


SINGAPORE – Participants of a regional haze dialogue in Singapore on Monday urged government concerned to take more actions to hackle the haze problem, which has for ten years harassed much of Southeast Asia in dry summer season.

According to Channel News Asia reports, representatives from five Southeast Asian countries along with Japan and Australia attended the one-day dialogue, which was co-organized by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs with the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Indonesia and the Institute of Strategic and International Studies of Malaysia.

Drawing links between forest fires and global climate change, some participants emphasized how the recurrence of carbon-rich haze caused by illegal fires in Indonesia’s vast tropical peat lands may help fuel global warming if left unchecked.

The participants are coming up with new strategies they hope their governments can adopt to deal with the issue of global climate change.

In a statement issued after the dialogue, the participants acknowledged some “positive steps” taken by Indonesia to address the haze problem, but said that Jakarta and the region need to do more.

Over the past years, Singapore was one of the major victims of the haze problem, which blanketed much of the city-state and caused huge economic losses.


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