ASEAN agrees to enhance information sharing, prevent haze

To ensure information on widespread fires in the region can be widely communicated, ASEAN has agreed to enhance the use of satellites through the Singapore-based ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC).

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said it was to ensure haze prevention measures could be carried out more effectively and forest fires dealt with, sooner.

This matter was agreed upon in the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution in Hanoi, Vietnam last Thursday.

"We want to strengthen the exchange of this early information, so that when it is presented to the ASEAN countries, all of them can work together to tackle the fire in its initial stages," he said when responding to a question by Datuk Johari Abdul (PKR-Sungai Petani) in the Dewan Rakyat here today.

Johari wanted to know the measures ASEAN countries would take in terms of expertise and facilities, to solve the haze problem which hit the region recently.