It will take many kinds of people to solve the haze problem in Southeast Asia: firemen, forest dwellers, local leaders, helicopter pilots, diplomats...
Diplomats?
Well, they are probably no hotshots with water hoses and they cannot be expected to do water bombing runs. But what they do best-getting people to agree on a common course of action-must always be part of the solution to this problem.
Says Dr. Filemon A. Uriarte Jr., Functional Cooperation Bureau Director of the ASEAN Secretariat, in a paper presented to the UNU/IAS Environment and Multilateral Diplomacy Workshop recently, "In addressing the ASEAN transboundary haze issue, there is need to use environmental diplomacy at three levels, namely at the national, regional and international levels."
He explains: "At the regional or ASEAN level, diplomacy is guided by the ASEAN policy of non-intervention in each country's domestic affairs. This is a fundamental principle of ASEAN.
Environmental diplomacy
"However, we know that the forest and peat fires that produce transboundary haze affecting some countries in the region are caused primarily by human and economic activities within another country. We also know that to stop the fires and haze, intervention must take place at the local and national levels. It is obvious therefore that finding a permanent solution to this problem will require a lot of environmental diplomacy at the regional level. "
"Actually, the forest fires that are large enough to cause haze are occurring in only a few countries. And the haze is affecting some countries that do not have forest fires. But at the same time, the ASEAN principle of non-intervention must be observed. The same dilemma also applies to finding a long-term solution to this problem. As a region, (ASEAN needs) to upgrade fire-fighting capacity, especially in countries that are experiencing large-scale fires. But at the same time, intervention must be avoided at all costs."
A regional operational plan
ASEAN's only option, therefore, according to Uriarte is to practice environmental diplomacy. He cites one document that has been negotiated and adopted at the ASEAN level, the Regional Haze Action Plan (RHAP). Under the plan, Malaysia coordinates the implementation of preventive measures. Singapore coordinates the region's early warning and monitoring system to detect the first outbreak of land and forest fires, predict how the smoke and haze will spread, track the control and spread of fires and haze, and provide data to support concerted action. Indonesia coordinates measures to strengthen national and regional fire-fighting capabilities.
An ASEAN Haze Technical Task Force (HTTF) chaired by Indonesia has been established, Uriarte points out. This Task Force meets every month to review the progress of the Plan's implementation. A Ministerial Meeting on Haze is convened almost once every six weeks to guide implementation of the Plan. A Regional Technical Assistance (RETA) project funded by the Asian Development Bank and implemented by the ASEAN Secretariat also supports implementation of the Plan.
"Two important elements under the RHAP will involve further negotiations among the ASEAN member countries," Uriarte says. "The first is the formulation of a regional or sub-regional agreement or protocol to facilitate regional emergency response and fire-fighting action in the event of a major fire. The second is the formation of a mechanism for the continuing funding of regional and sub-regional activities related to forest and peat fires through the establishment of a regional haze fund. Delicate negotiations and environmental diplomacy at the regional level will be necessary for these two elements to be fully realized and agreed upon."
At national level
Under the RHAP, each member country is obligated to develop a National Plan detailing the measures that it is going to take to combat the fires and haze. "Accordingly," says Uriarte, "negotiations at the national level will have to take place between different government departments involved in forestry, environment, industrial plantations, agriculture, local governments, etc. This is the second level of environmental diplomacy addressing the regional haze issue."
"Since what goes into each National Plan is a matter of national sovereignty, no one country can tell another what should be in the latter's own National Plan. But at the same time, each member country must reveal exactly what it is going to do to combat the fires and haze. By making the National Plans a requirement for participating in the Regional Haze Action Plan, the principle of non-intervention is respected while at the same time allowing room for negotiation and diplomatic persuasion. The fact that ASEAN operates by consensus gives further room for negotiation."
"This system has worked so well that two new sub-regional bodies for coordinating national fire-fighting systems have come up spontaneously. These are the Sub-regional Fire-fighting Arrangements (SRFA), one for Kalimantan involving Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam, and another for Sumatra involving Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. These SRFA arrangements will allow one country to use another country's fire-fighting personnel and equipment if a fire gets too big for one country to handle. When these arrangements are fully implemented, there will be pre-customs clearance of fire-fighting equipment, pre-immigration clearance for ASEAN fire-fighters, and an integrated chain of command for efficiently directing fire-fighters to the areas at greatest risk...
Need for donors
"Since the regional haze problem is too big for ASEAN alone to handle, finding a solution to this problem necessarily involves donor organizations. Accordingly, ASEAN must also use environmental diplomacy at a third level in its relations with international donors. The Regional Haze Action Plan provides a framework for donors to contribute to various activities. This framework helps donors see the exact contribution that each of them can make. It also shows each donor how its activities fit into the whole. This also avoids any duplication of effort."
Environmental diplomacy with donors has gone well because there is a well-developed operational plan, Uriarte says.
"We also find that this process promotes unity," he says. "Member countries know that there is an operational plan that they have had a part in formulating. And each member country knows its own role in the plan, as well as the role of all the other member countries and the donors. This helps avoid miscommunication and misunderstanding in the negotiations with one another and with the external donor community."
In this manner, environmental diplomacy is playing a vital role in the search for a solution to the haze problem in Southeast Asia.