By Amresh Gunasingham
The haze could make an unwanted comeback in July if vigilance to
curb forest fires in Indonesia is not stepped up, meeting of Asean
environment ministers warned on Friday.
The number of hotspots detected this month was an increase from
March, despite this being traditionally a rainy season and weather
experts predicting a weakening of the El Nino weather pattern,
which brings hotter and drier weather.
At a meeting of the sub-regional steering committee on
transboundary haze pollution held in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan on
Friday, Indonesia, which has been the epicentre of much of the
acrid pall that has blown this way for much of the last decade,
also pledged to cut the number of hotspots by 20 per cent every
year, starting from this year.
In a statement, the ministers said countries will be on alert
and were committed to mitigating the fires.
