Light at the End of the Haze?
At the 2014 Haze Roundtable organized by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) earlier this month, two encouraging developments were seen in the 20-year struggle to mitigate the annual environmental scourge. The first is that Indonesia has finally ratified the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (AATHP), which was first enacted in 2002. Well-known as the biggest source of the haze, Indonesia was the last holdout. The other nine members of the regional grouping had ratified it years ago.
Another positive development, as seen by many of the roundtable participantsgovernment officials and representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and corporations from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singaporewas the election of President Joko Widodo. In his campaign speeches Joko had promised to pay more attention to environmental issues.
November 18, 2014
At the 2014 Haze Roundtable organized by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) earlier this month, two encouraging developments were seen in the 20-year struggle to mitigate the annual environmental scourge. The first is that Indonesia has finally ratified the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (AATHP), which was first enacted in 2002. Well-known as the biggest source of the haze, Indonesia was the last holdout. The
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