KL-Jakarta Deal on Haze Prevention

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia and Indonesia will ink a haze prevention agreement on Tuesday to teach farmers in Sumatra’s Riau province alternative methods to the slash-and-burn land clearing.

The memorandum of understanding is for Malaysia to conduct RM2 million worth of training and capacity building, peatland rehabilitation and installation of a haze early-warning system.

The signing will take place in Jakarta between Natural Resources and Environment Ministry secretary-general Datuk Suboh Mohd Yassin and Masnellyarti Hilman, Indonesia’s deputy minister at the State Ministry for the Environment.

Department of Environment director-general Datuk Rosnani Ibarahim, who will be accompanying Suboh, said both parties would convene a meeting immediately after the signing to discuss implementation of the training programme.

The programme is focused on the Riau province where farmers have long used the traditional method of burning the land to clear it for the next planting season.

They will be taught the “zero-burning” technique (composting) which has been successfully used by Malaysian plantation companies.

Rosnani said Malaysian trainers would head for a remote village called Bangkopusako to train about 30 farmers, village heads, district heads and politicians.

The next phase of the training will involve palm oil plantation companies in Riau.

An Air Pollutant Index station will also be set up in Bagan Api Api as part of an early warning system.

The haze from Sumatra is expected to make a return between now and October.

The hot weather is projected to be made worse due to the weakening La Nina weather phenomenon. La Nina typically brings wet weather.

(c) 2008 New Straits Times. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.