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Indonesia-Singapore Collaboration to Deal with the Land and Forest Fires in Jambi Province
Following the last major smoke haze episode in 2006 which had affected Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and southern part of Thailand, the five ASEAN countries have taken action to tackle the transboundary smoke
loi haze issue by setting up Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering
Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) in November 2006.
Notwithstanding this, the regional smoke haze problem continues to
persist. One possible reason could be the need to tackle the land and
forest fires in Sumatra and Borneo have not cascaded down to the
community at the provincial and district levels. Recognizing this,
Indonesia formulated specific action plans to prevent and mitigate
fires at the provincial and district levels under its National Plan of
Action (PoA). Indonesia identified 35 fire-prone districts in 8
provinces for attention. Indonesia's PoA invited ASEAN Member States to
collaborate with a fire-prone province or district in Indonesia to
enhance its capacity to tackle land and forest fires there. In
response, Singapore offered to collaborate with Jambi 
Province and
Indonesia's State Ministry of Environment (KLH) to develop a Master
Plan to deal with land and forest fires in Jambi Province. Jambi
Province is located in Southern Sumatra and has a population of 2.7
million with a land area of 5.3 million hectares. The Framework of the
Master Plan was jointly developed by Indonesia and Singapore, and
finalized with the signing of the Letter of Intent (LOI) between KLH
and MEWR (Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, Singapore)
in November 2007 to formalize the development of the Master Plan and
the implementation of agreed activities to deal with land and forest
fires in Muaro Jambi Regency for a period of two years. Under the
Master Plan, Singapore provided technical assistance to Jambi in the
implementation of some specific programmes. If successfully
implemented, the Jambi Master Plan can serve as a model for other
fire-prone regencies/districts in Indonesia.
Following the last major smoke haze episode in 2006 which had affected Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and southern part of Thailand, the five ASEAN countries have taken action to tackle the transboundary smoke haze issue by setting up Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) in November 2006. Notwithstanding this, the regional smoke haze problem continues to persist. One possible reason could be the need to tackle the land and forest fires in Sumatra and Borneo have not cascaded down to the community at the provincial and district levels. Recognizing this, Indonesia formulated specific action plans to prevent and mitigate fires at the provincial and district levels under its National Plan of Action (PoA). Indonesia identified 35 fire-prone districts in 8 provinces for attention. Indonesia's PoA invited ASEAN Member States to collaborate with a fire-prone province or 
loidistrict in Indonesia to enhance its capacity to tackle land and forest fires there. In response, Singapore offered to collaborate with Jambi Province and Indonesia's State Ministry of Environment (KLH) to develop a Master Plan to deal with land and forest fires in Jambi Province. Jambi Province is located in Southern Sumatra and has a population of 2.7 million with a land area of 5.3 million hectares. The Framework of the Master Plan was jointly developed by Indonesia and Singapore, and finalized with the signing of the Letter of Intent (LOI) between KLH and MEWR (Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, Singapore) in November 2007 to formalize the development of the Master Plan and the implementation of agreed activities to deal with land and forest fires in Muaro Jambi Regency for a period of two years. Under the Master Plan, Singapore provided technical assistance to Jambi in the implementation of some specific programmes. If successfully implemented, the Jambi Master Plan can serve as a model for other fire-prone regencies/districts in Indonesia.
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© 2010 by Environment Division of ASEAN Secretariat HazeOnline v.2008 |