VZCZCXRO7665
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHBD #0080 0660112
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 070112Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3739
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS

UNCLAS BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 000080 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV PREL PGOV BX
SUBJECT: ASEAN ENVIRONMENT MINSTERS POSITIVE AFTER BRUNEI MEETING ON 
REGIONAL HAZE PROBLEM 
 
 
¶1. (U) ASEAN Environment Ministers met in Brunei February 28-March 1 
to discuss regional plans to combat haze in advance of the dry 
season.  This year's session had added urgency as the forcast effect 
of the expected El Nino surface ocean temperature rise could lead to 
a hot-dry March-August creating conditions for a bad haze season. 
 
¶2. (U) Press reports indicated that the attendees were pleased with 
actions Indonesia has taken to develop an action plan to deal with 
the worst hot spots at both the national and local levels. 
Indonesia's stronger law enforcement efforts and advance planning 
and budgeting for response efforts were singled out for praise, as 
was Singapore's assistance to one region to help it develop a master 
plan. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Minister of Development Pehin Abdullah, who represented 
Brunei at the ministerial, told Ambassador it had been a productive 
session.  Discussion had centered on controlling seasonal forest 
fires in Indonesia, the main source for the widespread regional haze 
(really smoke from burning forests) that reaches as far as Singapore 
and peninsular Malaysia.  There had been some mild criticism of 
Indonesia's lack of action in the past, but the ministers spent most 
of their time on practical steps to tackle the problem in the 
future, such as enforcement of "no-burn" zones. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Abdullah thought that in the long run it would be possible 
to gain control of the widespread fires.  In the short run, however, 
he expected the problem to continue.  The ministers had been briefed 
that the El Nino effect world probably lead to less than average 
rainfall for Borneo in 2007.  That, in turn, would cause a lowering 
of the water table under the island's peat swamp forests, drying out 
the upper layers and making them more prone to catching fire.  Such 
peat swamp forest fires could smolder for months and were almost 
impossible to extinguish.  Moreover, they produced high amounts of 
particulate emissions.  Given climatic conditions, Abdullah expected 
that forest fires and the resulting haze would return to the region 
later this year. 
 
 
FRIEDMAN