Southeast Asia's transboundary haze pollution: Unravelling the inconvenient truth

Abstract

This paper examines the political intricacies inherent in the management of Southeast Asia's transboundary haze pollution. It argues for a scalar perspective in understanding the complexities of the haze problem. The so-called 'inconvenient truth' is unravelled by teasing out some issues in the national and regional political ecologies, and the challenges of synchronising co-operation at the national, regional and global scales. Discussion shows that the 'environment' takes on different meanings at each scale, and both Indonesia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) need to recognise this in order to engage more effectively with the transboundary environmental issue. Specifically, inadequate management of forest resources in Indonesia, ASEAN's principle of 'non-interference' and a lack of a holistic ecosystem perspective are amongst some of the interconnected issues addressed. The paper calls for a greater awareness of structural weaknesses in the management of forest resources and a change in ASEAN's environmental paradigm to a more holistic ecosystem perspective that prioritises not just environmental and human health, but also a healthy and sustainable ecosystem.

The Role of International Resource Sharing Arrangements in Managing Fire in the Face of Climate Change

“…International development funds are still relied on to combat haze problems in Southeast Asia [63]. Some have argued that ASEAN should focus on controlling peat fires versus promoting a zero-burning regime [64].…”

Bio‐economy for sustainable growth in developing countries: The case of oil palm in Malaysia and Indonesia

“…Serious degradation of peat forests has escalated the risk of repeated landscape fires 4 . The great fires during periodic long droughts have resulted in severe transboundary haze and enormous carbon stock loss, ranging in effects from local health problems to long‐term global climate change 5 . Such land‐based economic development has also plagued the countries with social conflicts due to poor governance, corruption, and ineffective law enforcement.…”

“…4 The great fires during periodic long droughts have resulted in severe transboundary haze and enormous carbon stock loss, ranging in effects from local health problems to long-term global climate change. 5 Such land-based economic development has also plagued the countries with social conflicts due to poor governance, corruption, and ineffective law enforcement. The over-reliance on cash crops has also greatly altered the societal structure and ways of living.…”

Possibility to adopt LRTAP against Transboundary Haze Pollution: What Should ASEAN Look For?

“…Air pollution caused by deliberate forest fires is contrary to international environmental law. Most recently and also is the biggest incident of transboundary haze was in 2016, it was deemed that at least 20 Billion USD is needed in order to control the issue in the region (Zhang et al, 2019). As a result of the issue laid above, one of the principles it violated was "Sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedes" which states that no country may carry out or allow activities that can harm other countries (Rosencranz et al, 2019).…”