Australia Helps Address Haze Problem in South East Asia

MEDIA RELEASE

Released By:
Downer

I am pleased to announce the Australian
Government will provide a $660,000 package of assistance to further address the
problem of smoke haze which has recently afflicted large areas of South East
Asia.

Unusually dry weather conditions as a
result of El Nino combined with poor land management practices resulted in
massive bushfires across the Indonesian archipelago in late 1997, blanketing
parts of Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia in
dense haze.

The fires again flared up in the province
of East Kalimantan, Brunei and eastern Malaysia in March 1998 and there are
concerns that similar haze problems may re-emerge as the region enters its
annual dry season.

Australia has already provided $2.1
million in assistance including through water-bombing, public education,
training, and fire-fighting equipment in Indonesia, and pollution-monitoring
equipment in Malaysia.

The Australian Government will now provide an
additional $660,000 in support of national and regional policies aimed at
longer-term solutions. Specifically, the new Australian package of assistance
will comprise:

• assistance through the Asian Development Bank in
  support of the ASEAN Regional Haze Action Plan which aims to strengthen ASEAN
  members' capacity to prevent and mitigate atmospheric pollution ($160,000);
• support for the World Meteorological Organisation
  in enhancing the capacities of ASEAN countries to monitor and model pollution
  ($400,000);
• a program of cooperative training with Indonesia
  in areas such as forest management, land clearance and fire management
  ($100,000).

Training with Indonesia will be carried out in
Australia and will seek to build longer-term capacity to manage key underlying
issues associated with haze problems, especially improved land and forest
management. Funding will be provided through the Australian Government's aid
agency, AusAID.

MANILA