Recent land and forest fires have brought haze back after several years of relatively clear skies, which coincided with Covid-19 slowdowns.
In April, Chiang Mai became a city with the worst air pollution in the world for several days, reducing revenues during the festive tourist season. Tourism at World Heritage Sites like Bagan in Myanmar and Luang Prabang in Laos was also affected.
Nikkei Asia magazine recently described it as Asia's latest "airpocalypse", and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha consulted with his Myanmar and Lao counterparts in early April "to strengthen cooperation and tackle transboundary haze pollution among the three countries".
Seasonal small-scale burning to prepare land for planting is a traditional practice in Southeast Asia. However, in recent years, the pattern of land use has changed. Intensified land use due to commercial-scale farming of cash and plantation crops gives way to fire that have produced widespread toxic haze pollution, some of which were transboundary.
The northern and southern parts of Southeast Asia have alternating seasonal variations. Now that the rainy season is starting in the north, drier conditions will set in for the southern part.
Scientists predict a strong El Nino will bring drier and hotter conditions in the second half of this year and extend into 2024. Previous strong El Nino periods in 1997-1998 and 2015-2016 coincided with massive fires and transboundary haze in the region.
In the northern part of Southeast Asia, financial losses from transboundary haze and fire were estimated to exceed US$9 billion (over 303 billion baht) due to economic, social and environmental losses and released an estimated 1-2 billion tonnes of carbon into the already hot atmosphere. The latter episode costed Singapore a total estimated US$1.3 billion losses while in Indonesia alone it was about US$16.1 billion.
The question is, is the region now better prepared to keep fires and haze in check?
Asean has institutional mechanisms to combat haze. The Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (AATHP), Asean's only environmentally-related legal instrument, was signed in June 2002 and came into force in November 2003.
Two sub-regional working mechanisms were established to account for on-the-ground and seasonal differences between the north and south. Standard operational procedures including a roadmap have been in place based on the three-pronged approach of prevention, monitoring, and mitigation.
An important element of the AATHP, however, remains unfulfilled. So far, the Asean Co-ordinating Centre for Transboundary Haze Pollution Control (ACC-THPC) -- which will serve as facilitator and coordination for AATHP's parties, has not been formed and the Asean Secretariat has thus served as the interim ACC-THPC for the past two decades.
Encouragingly, there are indications that this long gestation period will likely end soon and five of Asean's external partners have even offered support for the establishment and operation of the ACC-THPC. It would be auspicious if the ACC-THPC could finally open its doors on the 20th anniversary of the AATHP coming into effect this year. Better late than never!
Notwithstanding the above, there remains the need to rethink the region's modus operandi on haze management. Asean has delegated responsibility for haze matters to the Environment Ministers of member countries, which institutionally positions it within the Asean Socio-Cultural Community pillar. While the haze indeed manifests as an environmental issue, the origins of the fires are in agricultural and forested lands.
This calls for more engagement of Agricultural and/or Forestry Ministers, which are under the Asean Economic Community pillar. Stricter enforcement of regulations would also augur more success in preventing fires -- this involves Justice and/or Law Ministers, which come under the Asean Political-Security Community pillar. Therefore, there is a need for a cross-pillar approach to handling haze issues in order to match the cross-sectoral nature of the problem.
Further consideration should also be given to better link the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution with the Asean Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response to develop more synergies.
Haze can, after all, be both a disaster and an emergency, and the agreements can be considered "fraternal twins" as they have similar provisions and came into being during the same period. There is also ample evidence of bad air quality's contribution to poor human health and well-being and as a factor in the crippling viral infections and pandemics experienced lately by the societies and industries in the region.
Respiratory impairment due to microbial infections combined with the presence of toxic air pollutants like PM2.5 have seen substantial increases in morbidity and mortality figures. The region's critical air pollution disaster, emergency response and public health mechanisms have to work together more as one.
This can then be a prime example of inter-sectoral cooperation and then be linked with linking up with a recent mechanism entitled the Asean Strategic Framework on Public Health Emergencies. This recent mechanism also has the newly-established Asean Centre for Public Health Emergencies and Emerging Diseases to handle the operation.
Asean has signed up to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and declared its commitment to meeting globally agreed climate targets. As part of these efforts, Asean also implements a Framework for Circular Economy. In this regard, Asean Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry in October 2022 pledged the Asean Carbon Neutrality Strategy. All these commitments will be meaningless if fires continue unabated.
Tackling fires and haze is a daunting task. However, Asean must demonstrate ingenuity and resourcefulness to make a real difference to its people's wellbeing.
Moreover, AICHR had recently established an Asean Environmental Rights Working Group with the aim "to develop a regional framework on environmental rights". Add to the fact that at least ten of Asean's external partners and the UN have recently identified transboundary haze as a priority area of cooperation, it is now a watershed moment to address this "airshed" challenge.
Apichai Sunchindah is an independent development specialist and formerly the Head of the Environmental Division at the ASEAN Secretariat and the Executive Director of the ASEAN Foundation; Larry Maramis consults for international development agencies, and previously served as Director for Cross-Sectoral Cooperation at the ASEAN Secretariat and was the Project Manager for ASEAN’s first Regional Technical Assistance on Transboundary Haze Pollution and Dr. Helena Varkkey is Associate Professor at the Department of International and Strategic Studies at Universiti Malaya and her research focuses especially on the governance of transboundary haze pollution in Southeast Asia.